The  Coast  Country 

OF 


TEXAS 


A GENERAL  STUDY  OF  THE  REGION,  TOGETHER  "WITH  A BRIEF  OUTLINEOF  ITS 
HISTORY,  ITS  AGRICULTURAL  AND  HISTORICAL  POSSIBILITIES,  ITS 
SOCIAL  CONDITIONS  AND  INDUCEMENTS  To  HOME-SEEKERS. 


BY 

H.  S.  J^N  EEDLER. 


CINCINNATI,  O.- 

The  A.  H.  Pugii  Printing  Company, 


1896. 


EXPLANATORY. 


THE  purpose  of  this  little  book  is  to  truthfully  describe  the  Coast 
Country  of  Texas,  a region  with  respect  to  which  most  people 
outside  of  that  great  commonwealth  are  singularly  uninformed. 
The  object  is  not  to  magnify  its  advantages  nor  to  hide  any  of  its 
disadvantages.  If  the  author  has  anywhere  erred  it  has  not  been 
through  an  intention  to  deceive  nor  a want  of  honest  effort  to  arrive 
at  the  truth.  He  personally  visited  all  portions  of  the  region,  met 
and  was  aided  by  representative  and  intelligent  citizens,  to  whom  he 
hereby  makes  acknowledgment,  and  investigated  the  capability  of 
the  soil,  its  adaptability  to  the  crops  mentioned,  the  heathful  ness 
of  the  region,  the  matter  of  water  supply,  the  experience  of  old  and 
new  settlers,  and  everything  which  could  contribute  to  the  enlighten- 
ment of  prospective  settlers.  The  fertility  of  the  soil  he  knew  of,  but 
he  did  not  know  how  charming  the  landscape  was,  how  the  rolling 
prairie  was  diversified  by  abundant  woodland  and  enriched  by  many 
clear  streams.  The  thrift  and  solidity  of  the  towns  ; the  intelligence 
and  wealth  and  enterprise  of  the  people  were  factors  that  awakened 
enthusiasm.  Of  these  much  is  to  be  said  in  the  pages  that  follow,  and 
if  what  is  there  exploited  shall  incite  the  restless  farmer  of  the  north 
or  east,  weary  of  the  struggle  under  adverse  conditions  of  soil 
or  climate,  to  visit  this  Coast  Country  the  end  shall  have  been  ac- 
complished. For  if  such  will  come  and  see  the  possibilities  for  pro- 
longed life,  for  larger  returns  than  are  possible  anywhere  else,  and 
with  a minimum  expenditure  of  labor,  they  will  confirm  what  is  here 
set  forth  and  be  grateful  to  the  humble  medium  of  their  enlighten- 
ment. 


WHERE  AND  WHEN 


The  Coast  Country  of  Texas,  which  this  modest  pamphlet  has 
been  prepared  to  make  better  known  to  the  world,  may  be  roughly  de- 
scribed as  a strip  of  country  from  fifty  to  eighty  miles  wide,  fronting 
on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  extending  from  the  Sabine  River  on  the 
east  to  the  Neuces  River  on  the  southwest.  Take  a good  map  of 
Texas  and  you  will  see  that  the  Sabine  forms  the  boundary  between 
Texas  and  Louisiana.  From  Orange  the  line  of  the  Southern  Pacific 
Railway  bears  west  by  a little  south  to  Houston  and  Rosenberg.  From 
the  latter  point  the  New  York,  Texas  and  Mexican,  and  the  Gulf, 
Western  Texas,  and  Pacific  Railways,  forming  a part  of  what  is  known 
as  the  Southern  Pacific  Sunset  Route,  diverge  southward  to  Beeville, 
where  connection  is  made  with  the  San  Antonio  and  Aransas  Pass 
Railroad.  The  lines  referred  to  from  Orange  to  Beeville  pass  through 
the  very  center  of  the  region  to  be  described,  what  is  known  as  the 
Coast  Country  of  Texas,  so  that  as  your  eye  follows  the  line  of  the 
road  it  will  grasp  the  topographical  characteristics  of  the  region  under 
consideration.  We  can  roughly  put  it  at  thirty-five  thousand  square 
miles  of  territory.  And  when  it  is  described  as  a rural  paradise  where 
the  marvelous  fertility  of  the  soil  and  the  wonderful  salubrity  of  the 
climate  make  an  ideal  combination ; where  almost  every  grain  and 
fruit  and  vegetable  grows  with  a prodigality  unknown  elsewhere ; 
where  health  is  the  handmaiden  of  industry,  and  the  toil  of  life  Joses 
its  hard  aspect  and  labor  has  its  just  reward  ; a region  where  all  these 
elements  are  not  only  conjectural  possibilities  but  realized  certainties, 
and  yet  where  land  contiguous  to  railways  and  markets  can  be  still 
purchased  for  from  $5  to  $12  per  acre,  the  intellectual  reader  will  ask, 
with  a tinge  of  suspicious  skepticism  : 

“If  this  coast  region  is  all  you  say  it  is  why  is  land  so  cheap  ? ” 
That  is  a matter  to  be  made  plain  in  the  very  beginning,  for 
without  a knowledge  of  the  facts  the  prospective  settler  at  the  north 
or  east  would  doubt  what  follows.  He  would  reason,  and  very  sen- 
sibly too,  that  a region  so  favored  as  we  shall  show  this  to  be  would 
have  long  since  been  populous  and  farm  values  greatly  enhanced. 
Except  for  the  extraordinary  conditions  which  have  prevailed  here 
this  would  have  been  true  of  the  Coast  Country.  And  right  here  the 
writer  makes  a prediction.  In  ten  years  from  now — in  1906 — should 
a copy  of  this  brochure  survive  so  long  and  fall  into  the  hands  of  a 
resident  of  the  Coast  Country,  he  will  marvel  that  it  was  ever  needed 
to  exploit  its  advantages,  and  will  deem  it  almost  incredible  that  so 


4 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


little  while  agone  its  fertile  lands  could  have  been  purchased  so 
cheaply. 

To  understand  the  circumstances  which  have  until  the  present 
time  kept  the  price  of  lands  in  the  Coast  Country  at  such  a low  fig- 
ure, we  must  briefly  review  its  history.  We  have  seen  within  a de- 
cade lands  selling  at  equally  low  figures  in  the  north  and  middle  west. 
There  great  areas  of  hitherto  unpopulated  country  were  opened  to 
settlement.  Their  agricultural  possibilities  were  unknown.  The 
short  summers  and  long  winters,  with  their  late  springs,  drouths  and 
early  frosts  were  indeed  matters  of  common  knowledge.  But  be- 
cause there  has  been  a hereditary  madness  to  pursue  lines  of  emigra- 
tion upon  the  same  latitudes,  men  settled  upon  them  until  in  a few 
years  they  had  practically  all  been  taken  up.  The  course  of  emigra- 
tion for  centuries  was  westward,  always  westward. 

It  became  a habit  of  thought  with  men  to  believe  that  as  their 
fathers  had  wrested  a livelihood  from  the  soil  during  a few  summer 
months  and  consumed  during  the  long  winters  what  they  had  earned 
during  the  brief  period  of  sowing  and  harvest,  so  they  should  do  like- 
wise. And  in  spite  of  the  rigors  of  a climate  that  preyed  upon  their 
health  and  denied  them  more  than  moderate  rewards  for  industry, 
prejudice  and  ignorance  were  so  firmly  fixed  that  only  a compara- 
tively few  of  the  more  adventurous  broke  away  from  the  vast  army 
of  emigration  and  set  their  faces  toward  the  richer  promise-land  of  the 
south.  To-day  these  bid  their  friends  come  and  share  with  them  the 
prosperity  they  have  found.  They  invite  them  to  come  not  to  a wil- 
derness where  the  institutions  of  civilization  must  be  freshly  set  up, 
but  to  a country  old  in  its  settlement,  with  all  its  social  fabric  organ- 
ized, where  the  church  and  schoolhouse  have  for  two  generations  been 
the  beacons  of  enlightenment ; where  hospitable  homes  have  long 
opened  their  doors  ; where  the  carriers  of  commerce  draw  them  near 
to  the  markets  of  the  world  ; where  the  willing  and  industrious  settler 
of  modest  means  has  before  him  the  sure  promise  of  comfortable  afflu- 
ence ; where  congenial  sunshine  and  pure  gulf  breezes  conspire  to 
lengthen  life,  and  prosperous  cities  and  thriving  towns  afford  all  the 
advantages  and  amenities  of  life. 

And  now  as  to  the  reason  why  the  Coast  Country  of  Texas, 
with  all  these  fortuitious  elements,  has  for  so  long  been  a closed  region 
to  the  outside  world,  a veritable  terra  incognita  to  the  eager  emigrant 
in  search  of  the  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey. 

Sailing  far  out  of  his  course  in  the  search  for  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi,  La  Salle,  in  1685,  entered  Matagorda  Bay,  and 
a little  while  after  built  a fort  on  Lavaca  River.  Unhappy  as  was 
its  brief  career,  this  was  to  all  intents  and  purposes  the  first  European 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


5 


settlement  in  what  we  now  know  as  Texas.  And  of  the  region  which 
he  traversed  and  mapped,  the  Coast  Country,  La  Salle  sent  back  to 
his  royal  master,  Louis  XIV.,  the  most  glowing  accounts.  Upon  the 
founding  of  this  so-called  colony  France  vested  its  claim  to  all  the 
lands  between  Mexico  and  Louisana.  But  Spain,  by  right  of  the  early 
explorations  of  Narvaes,  Coronado  and  Espejas,  and  the  conquests  of 
Cortez,  laid  claim  to.  the  disputed  territory.  Then  Spain  set  about 
building  its  chain  of  missions  from  the  Rio  Grande  to  the  Sabine,  and 
each  religious  establishment  became  a presidio  or  military  camp,  so 
that  while  the  indefatigable  fathers  spread  abroad  the  fruits  of  their 
civilizing  influence  the  soldiers  welded  fast  the  chain  that  made  the 
Spanish  claim  good.  In  1728  the  Spanish  Government  sent  over  a 
colony,  but  after  that  seems  to  have  repented  of  its  good  work, 
for  even  after  its  claim  was  made  valid  by  the  purchase  of  Louis- 
iana, and  population  made  to  increase,  the  crown  enforced  such 
obnoxious  laws  that  the  growth  of  the  territory  was  retarded  and  en- 
terprise effectually  throttled.  The  closing  years  of  the  eighteenth 
century  and  the  opening  decade  of  the  nineteenth  were  troublous 
ones.  In  Mexico  revolution  succeeded  revolution  until  in  1823  a re- 
public was  established.  The  condition  of  Spain  was  deplorable,  for 
it  was  rent  by  foreign  wars  and  domestic  discord.  The  United  States 
had  claimed  that  under  the  terms  of  its  purchase  of  Louisiana,  in  1803, 
it  owned  all  the  country  east  of  the  Rio  Grande,  but  this  dispute  finally 
adjusted  itself  to  a recognition  of  the  Sabine  as  the  dividing  line.  Dur- 
ing this  period  numerous  expeditions  of  adventurous  Americans  made 
incursions  into  Texas  for  purposes  of  conquest,  and  the  buccaneers 
of  the  gulf  established  their  headquarters  along  the  sheltered  coast. 

Yet,  in  spite  of  the  turmoil  of  the  times  and  the  dangers  that  har- 
rassed  them  alike  from  faithless  Spanish  officials  and  warlike  Indians, 
many  excellent  American  families  had  settled  in  the  country  and 
maintained  the  refinement  of  their  lives  in  this  then  far  off  wilder- 
ness. 

But  with  the  arrival  of  Moses  Austin,  in  1820,  began  the  era  of 
colonization  which,  while  it  laid  the  foundations  of  the  great  state  of 
to-day,  in  large  measure  accounts  for  the  fact  that  until  a few  years 
ago  population  was  sparse  in  the  Coast  Country.  Moses  Austin  and 
his  son,  Stephen  F.  Austin,  Martin  de  Leon,  Green  De  Witt,  Hayden 
Edwards  and  others,  styled  empresarios — we  would  now  call  them  by 
the  less  impressive  title  of  colonization  agents— secured  important  con- 
cessions from  the  Mexican  republic  to  settle  colonies  in  Texas.  These 
concessions  were  accompanied  by  immense  grants  of  land.  Ten 
leagues  of  coast  land  had  been  reserved  by  the  government  for  its 
own  purposes,  but  this  was  thrown  open  to  settlement  in  1828.  Under 


6 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS 


the  wise  and  progressive  policy  which  adhered  from  1820  to  1830, 
twenty  thousand  Americans  settled  in  Texas,  but  in  the  latter  year, 
under  an  illiberal  and  narrow-minded  administration,  a policy  of  op- 
pression was  inaugurated  and  revolution  followed  and  continued  until 
1836,  when  the  heroic  Texans  were  victorious  and  established  after 
six  years  of  desperate  and  almost  continuous  struggle,  the  republic 
which  they  had  fought  for. 

During  these  years  of  uncertainty  and  doubt,  when  every  Ameri- 
ican  was  harrassed  and  in  danger,  when  property  was  insecure  and 
law  had  become  a shadow,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  land  drifted 
into  great  holdings.  At  that  time,  and  for  many  years  after,  it  was 
chiefly  valuable  for  the  pasturage  of  vast  herds  of  cattle.  The  great 
grants  originally  made  were  maintained  in  their  integrity,  while  others 
equally  great  grew  up  about  them  and  absorbed  the  land  which,  under 
other  circumstances,  would  have  been  divided  into  small  holdings. 
Estates  of  a hundred  thousand  acres  were  deemed  small  and  those  of 
half  a million  or  a million  acres  were  not  uncommon.  It  was  bought  and 
sold  for  twelve  and  fifteen  cents  per  acre.  The  herds  of  cattle  which 
grazed  upon  it  all  the  year  round  and  needed  no  other  feed  to  make 
them  ready  for  the  market,  brought  fabulous  wealth  to  their  owners, 
who  were  naturally  reluctant  to  break  up  their  holdings,  and  who  re- 
sented the  encroachments  of  the  small  farmer  as  a menace  to  their 
prosperity.  But  the  most  obstinate  or  reluctant  could  not  stem  the 
march  of  emigration,  and  gradually  as  the  news  went  abroad  that  here 
upon  the  coast  of  Texas  was  a fair  and  fertile  land,  the  prospector 
came,  secured  a foothold,  and  remained  to  prove  that  all  that  had 
been  claimed  for  it  was  true.  Cities  grew  up  into  great  centers  of 
trade  and  industry.  Towns  that  had  slumbered  for  generations 
awoke  to  new  life.  The  railroad  aggressively  pushed  its  way  in  to 
create  new  industries  and  foster  old  ones. 

Colonization  agents  purchased  large  tracts  and  divided  them  that 
many  might  share  the  advantages.  And  the  new  values  put  upon 
land  induced  the  owners  of  the  great  estates  to  put  their  property  on 
the  market,  for  when  properties  which  they  had  bought  for  twelve 
cents  an  acre  came  to  have  a value  of  four  or  five  dollars,  and  taxes, 
that  had  been  an  unknown  factor,  rose  to  what  they  thought  the 
enormous  sum  of  eighty  cents  on  the  hundred  dollars  at  one-third 
valuation,  and  when  highways  were  cut  through  their  great  pastures 
to  facilitate  the  progress  of  the  encroaching  agriculturist,  they  saw  the 
handwriting  on  the  wall  of  their  future  and  were  willing  to  surrender 
to  the  inevitable. 


A Home  in  the  Lower  Coast  Country. 


A PEN  PICTURE  OF  THE  COAST  COUNTRY. 

Aside  from  certain  local  differences  which  are  not  important  in  a 
general  review,  the  Coast  Country  may  be  separated  into  two  divis- 
ions for  descriptive  purposes,  the  design  in  this  instance  being  merely 
to  convey  to  the  reader  an  idea  as  to  how  the  region  appears  to  the 
eye.  There  are  many  people  in  this  country  who  think  of  Texas  as 
a great  treeless  plain.  The  writer  confesses  that  he  had  much  the 
same  impression  until  he  visited  the  state.  The  geographies  he  studied 
as  a boy  emphasized  the  “ staked  plains  ” and  were  singularly  de- 
ficient with  respect  to  any  other  information,  and  his  teachers  had  as 
little  knowledge  of  the  country. 


8 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS- 


We  must  remember  that  Texas  is  a very  large  state,  so  vast  that 
from  its  eastern  to  its  western  border  the  distance  is  almost  as  great 
as  that  which  separates  Chicago  from  New  Orleans  or  New  York 
from  Chicago.  From  north  to  south  it  is  756  miles  ; from  east  to  west 
872  miles.  Its  area  is  274, 356  square  miles,  33,413  square  miles  larger 
than  the  Austrian  Empire,  which  sustains  a population  of  35,904,535. 
It  is  62,265  square  miles  larger  than  the  German  Empire,  whose  in- 
habitants number  41,058,139.  It  is  70,265  square  miles  larger  than 
France,  which  sustains  within  its  borders  36,905,788  people ; and  fin- 
ally it  is  more  than  twice  the  size  of  England,  Ireland,  Scotland  and 
Wales  combined,  which  support  a population  of  31,817,108.  In  a 
word  Texas  is  capable  of  sustaining  upon  her  surface  in  ease  and  pros- 
perity a population  of  60,000,000.  The  present  population  is  3,000,- 
000.  The  topography  of  the  state  is  exceptional.  From  the  level 
Coast  Country,  where  little  rock  is  found,  the  altitude  gradually  in- 
creases to  the  northern  borders,  where  it  reaches  an  elevation  of  over 
3,500  feet.  Northern  Texas  is  distinctly  the  wheat  region,  although 
there  are  also  productive  cotton  lands  bordering  the  Red  River ; east- 
ern Texas  contains  the  vast  forests  of  pine  ; central  Texas  is  a great 
cotton  growing  region  ; western  and  southwestern  Texas  is  specially 
adapted  to  wool  growing  and  cattle  raising  ; the  Pan  Handle  is  adapted 
to  the  growth  of  the  cereals,  and  wheat,  corn  and  oats  are  rapidly  en- 
croaching upon  the  stock  ranges.  Texas  is  not  exclusively  an  agri- 
cultural state.  It  has  vast  deposits  of  valuable  minerals,  and  its  un- 
derground wealth  is  but  partially  explored.  Coal  is  plentiful  ; one 
bituminous  coal  formation  on  the  Red  River  covers  12,000  square 
miles,  with  seams  three  feet  thick.  Bituminous  and  lignite  coals  are 
also  mined  in  the  Neuces  district  along  the  Rio  Grande.  The  area  is 
larger  than  in  Pennsylvania. 

Extensive  deposits  of  iron  exist  in  eastern  Texas,  covering  1,000 
square  miles,  many  veins  being  ten  feet  thick.  Paying  wells  of  pe- 
troleum are  at  Nacogdoches  and  there  are  surface  indications  of  it  in 
other  counties. 

There  is  a bed  of  rock  salt  140  feet  thick  underlying  Victoria. 
There  are  several  bat  caves  producing  the  famous  bat  guano,  every 
bit  of  the  product  being  placed  far  in  advance  of  mining. 

Gold,  copper,  gypsum,  asphaltum,  marls  and  mica  are  found  in 
paying  quantities.  The  granite  of  Texas  excels  that  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, in  the  verdict  of  capable  judges. 

The  traveler  entering  Texas  via  the  Southern  Pacific  at  Orange 
finds  himself  in  the  center  of  the  great  timber  district.  Here  and  at 
Beaumont — the  former  upon  the  Sabine  the  latter  upon  the  Neches 
River  twenty-one  miles  further  west — are  the  great  mill  centers  where 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS 


9 


the  timber  floated  from  the  vast  forests  to  the  nortward  is  turned  into 
the  lumber  of  commerce  and  goes  by  way  of  Sabine  Pass,  to  all  parts 
of  the  world.  Both  the  rivers  mentioned  are  streams  of  great  depth. 
Agriculturally  speaking  the  section  of  the  Coast  Country  for  eighty 
or  a hundred  miles  west  of  the  Sabine  is  a new  country.  It  is  largely 
prairie  land  with  a good  deal  of  timber  upon  the  streams,  oak,  pine, 
ash  and  hickory.  Toward  the  gulf  the  land  runs  into  salt  marshes, 
which  afford  superb  winter  pasture  and  cattle  fatten  upon  them  as 
though  stall  fed.  The  soil  is  of  two  kinds,  the  sandy  loams  of  the 
ridges  and  the  dark,  heavier  and  more  fertile  soil  of  the  lower  lands. 
As  one  goes  westward  the  prairie  vistas  open  more  and  more.  The 
country  is  well  watered,  for  beside  the  more  important  rivers  like 
the  Sabine,  Neches,  Trinity,  and  San  Jacinto  there  are  innumerable 
creeks  and  bayous.  Thus  in  the  thirty  two  miles  between  the  T rinity 
River  and  the  city  of  Houston  one  crosses  Cedar  Bayou  seven  miles 
west  of  the  Trinity,  the  San  Jacinto  River  eight  miles  further  on; 
Carpenter  Bayou,  four  miles  west ; Green’s  Bayou,  four  miles 
from  that,  and  Hunter’s  Bayou,  three  miles  further,  and  then  Buffalo 
Bayou  as  one  enters  the  city.  It  is  so  all  through  the  coast  country, 
for  south  of  Houston  we  find  the  Brazos,  the  Colorado,  Lavaca,  Guad- 
aloupe  and  San  Antonio  Rivers,  with  the  Sabine  and  the  Neches  the 
greatest  in  the  state,  for  all  the  important  rivers  flow  southeastwardly 
to  a union  with  the  gulf  at  about  equal  distances  apart,  while  their 
innumerable  feeders  and  affluents  ramify  in  every  direction  and 
afford  unexcelled  drainage  and  abundant  and  ever-present  water. 
South  from  Houston  the  Coast  Country  is  a perpetual  delight  to  the 
traveler.  On  the  Brazos  bottom  there  are  a million  acres  adapted  to 
the  cultivation  of  sugar  cane  in  all  its  perfection,  and  at  Sugarland  a 
great  refinery  has  been  in  successful  operation  for  years  transforming 
the  staple  crop  into  the  marketable  product  and  bringing  wealth  to  its 
owners  and  to  those  who  raise  the  cane  and  sell  it  at  the  mill.  A few 
miles  beyond  the  Brazos,  and  past  its  fields  of  waving  cane,  and  the 
tourist  enters  a billowy  prairie  country,  covered  with  the  most  nu- 
tritious grasses,  which  continues  to  Beeville  and  beyond.  It  is  a land 
heretofore  given  up  largely  to  stock  and  to  the  growing  of  cotton, 
corn  and  sorghum.  The  surface  is  for  the  most  part  gently  undulating. 
Along  the  streams  and  in  well  distributed  clumps  that  dot  the  wide 
expanse  of  landscape  there  is  abundance  of  timber,  oak,  elm,  ash, pecan 
and  many  other  varieties,  enough  to  supply  all  the  ordinary  needs  of 
the  country.  As  one  nears  the  coast  line  the  timber  ordinarily  grows 
less  abundant,  and  the  wide,  high  prairie  sweeps  to  the  very  water’s 
edge  without  any  intervening  strip  of  marsh.  The  soil  in  the  valleys, 
along  the  river,  is  a deep  black,  sandy  loam,  and  probably  no  one  now 


IO 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


living  will  be  able  to  test  the  limit  of  its  fertility.  In  some  of  the 
earlier  settled  localities,  as  for  example,  along  the  Brazos  valley, 
twenty  and  even  thirty  crops  of  corn,  cotton  and  cane  in  as  many 
successive  seasons  have  been  produced  without  the  use  of  any  fertil- 
izer upon  land  that  shows  no  signs  of  any  dimunition  in  productiveness 
or  adaptability  to  any  crop  the  tiller  may  elect.  The  soil  of  the 
prairies  consists  of  light  grey,  dark  brown  and  black,  sandy  loam,  and 
a kind  technically  known  as  “ black  waxy  ” and  “ hog  wallow.”  The 
three  kinds  of  loam  are  friable  soils  easily  tilled  and  very  easily 
subjugated.  The  prairie  soil  of  Texas  rots  much  more  readily  than 
the  stiffer  sod  of  Illinois  or  Kansas  prairie  land,  and  less  power  is  re- 
quired for  deep  tillage.  ‘‘Black  waxy”  or  “hog  wallow”  land  is 
very  rich,  but  power  is  required  to  break  it  up  and  subsoil  it  and  put 
it  in  condition  for  easy  tillage.  Although  much  of  the  land  is  planted 
in  crops  and  fruit  trees,  as  soon  as  it  is  broken  and  lightly  subsoiled 
the  best  practice  is  to  turn  the  sod,  then  after  sixty  or  ninety  days 
plow  deep  and  leave  the  soil  to  cure  by  atmospheric  action,  then  plant. 
The  subsoil  is  almost  universally  retentive,  furnishing  the  best  basis 
for  the  methods  employed  in  intense  farming. 

The  average  rainfall  all  over  the  Coast  Country  is  about  46  in- 
ches, and  this  is  so  well  distributed  that  it  serves  all  the  purposes  of 
agriculture.  No  total  crop  failure  has  ever  been  known.  Water 
for  drinking  purposes  is  found  everywhere  under  the  clay  subsoil  in  a 
strata  of  quicksand  varying  in  depth  from  fifteen  to  thirty  feet  admir- 
able for  stock  purposes.  At  from  75  to  125  feetthe  second  water  vein 
is  found  throughout  the  Victoria  region,  and  this  water  is  perfectly 
pure  and  healthful.  Artesian  wells,  the  water  from  which  rises  to  an 
elevation  above  the  surface  of  from  ten  to  thirty  feet,  are  sunk  to  a 
depth  varying  from  250  to  500  feet  according  to  locality.  A bored  well 
of  four-inch  diameter  costs  one  dollar  per  foot  complete.  The  cost  of 
a three-inch  artesian  well  of  average  depth  is  from  $250  to  $400. 

Throughout  all  the  Coast  Country  there  are  prosperous 
cities  and  towns.  The  chief  commercial  centers  of  the  state, 
Houston,  and  Galveston,  are  in  the  very  center  of  this  favored  region. 
The  former  is  the  great  railway  center,  the  second  largest  cotton  mar- 
ket in  the  world  ; the  latter  the  shipping  port  of  the  southwest,  where 
the  flags  of  all  nations  fly  at  the  mastheads  of  the  ships  that  daily 
come  and  go.  The  almost  60,000  people  who  at  present  comprise  the 
populations  of  these  two  cities  form  a consuming  home  market  for  a 
large  amount  of  farm,  garden  and  dairy  produce,  while  the  railways 
that  radiate  from  Houston  to  all  parts  of  the  country  give  ready  access 
to  the  great  distributing  centers  at  Kansas  City,  St.  Louis,  Chicago, 
New  Orleans,  New  York,  Baltimore  and  other  points.  Already  great 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


II 


quantities  of  vegetables  and  fruits,  as  well  as  game,  fish  and  oysters 
are  shipped  from  the  coast  points  to  these  cities.  The  Coast  Country 
is  to  be  the  real  truck  patch  of  the  nation,  for  it  puts  its  products  of 
garden  and  orchard  into  the  market  before  any  other  section  of  the 
continent  and  at  seasons  when  the  very  pinnacle  of  high  prices  rewards 
the  producer.  And  as  its  fruits  and  vegetables  go  all  over  the  union, 
so  does  its  game,  for  it  is  a veritable  sportsman’s  paradise  where  deer, 
quail,  prairie  chickens,  wild  turkeys,  etc.,  have  their  home  in  wonder- 
ful abundance ; where  the  bays  and  inlets  of  the  coast  are  resorted  to 
by  all  the  waterfowl  of  the  north  and  vast  flocks  of  every  variety  of 
duck,  as  well  as  geese  and  brant  are  an  easy  prey.  Its  fish  and  oys- 
ter industries  are  enormous  and  inexhaustible,  and  terrapin  farming 
has  been  added  to  the  apparently  unlimited  list  of  its  resources. 

With  respect  to  the  climate  of  this  region  a misapprehenion  exists 
which  we  desire  to  correct.  The  popular  idea  of  our  northern  friends 
is  that  because  the  Coast  Country  lies  south  of  the  30th  parallel  of 
latitude  it  must  be  extremely  and  oppressively  warm  in  summer. 
This  is  an  error.  The  thermometer  has  never  been  known  to  record 
as  high  a temperature  in  the  Coast  Country  as  it  does  every  summer 
in  Illinois,  Iowa  or  Kansas.  The  data  compiled  for  the  year  1894  at 
the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture  Weather  Bureau  Stations 
at  Galveston  and  Houston  showed  the  following  results  : 


GALVESTON 

Jan. 

Feb. 

March 

April 

’Hay 

June 

July 

Aug. 

Sept. 

Oct. 

Nov. 

Dec. 

Year. 

_•  t Average 

58.0 

53  6 

63.2 

71.8 

77.0 

78.6 

81.3 

80.2 

80. 

74.4 

63.8 

58.8 

70. 

Average 

« < Maximum 

72. 

75- 

76. 

80. 

88. 

87. 

07- 

92. 

88. 

87. 

79- 

77- 

97- 

Highest. 

l Minimum- 

24. 

28. 

38. 

58. 

62. 

64. 

69. 

70. 

68. 

49. 

41. 

21. 

21. 

Lowest. 

Rainfall 

2.41 

2.69 

1.96 

1.42 

I. 

9.89 

6.32 

9.49 

2.64 

0.51 

1.59 

0.72 

40.64 

total. 

Snow  

OO 

OO 

OO 

OO 

OO 

OO 

OO 

OO 

OO 

OO 

OO 

OO 

OO 

HOUSTON. 

Jan. 

Feb 

March 

April 

May 

Juni 

July 

Aug. 

Sept. 

Oct. 

Nov. 

Dec. 

Year. 

^ ( Average  • 

54.1 

50.6 

62.4 

71.5 

75.2 

77.8 

80.3 

78.8 

76.4 

74-5 

59- 

54-6 

67.9 

Average 

5 < Maximum 

79- 

79- 

85. 

92. 

95. 

97- 

104. 

97- 

94- 

90. 

80. 

76. 

104 

Highest. 

( Minimum 

18. 

23. 

32. 

48. 

48. 

57- 

65. 

65. 

56. 

36. 

34- 

‘5- 

15- 

Lowest. 

Rainfall 

3-59 

4- 17 

5.01 

2.31 

2.31 

5-45 

2.69 

5-75 

3.25 

0.69 

0.84 

1.05 

36.25 

Total. 

Snow 

OO 

OO 

OO 

OO 

OO 

CO 

OO 

OO 

OO 

OO 

OO 

OO 

OO 

12 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


The  Galveston  weather  station  also  issued  the  following  table 
which  shows  the  distribution  of  the  rainfall,  the  variations  of  temper- 
ature and  the  comparatively  few  cloudy  days: 


Months. 

Rainfall  pre- 
cipitation in 
inches. 

Temperature. 

No.  Days 
no  sun- 
shine. 

Highest. 

Lowest. 

January  

2.86 

74 

35 

4 

February  

1.92 

75 

34 

3 

March  

4.96 

76 

30 

9 

April 

5.14 

81 

56 

8 

May 

5.38 

85 

63 

2 

June 

7.42 

90 

65 

2 

July 

1.82 

92 

71 

2 

August 

5.09 

90 

70 

I 

September 

4-79 

87 

56 

I 

October 

4.38 

89 

54 

2 

November 

2.37 

79 

49 

5 

December 

2.23 

75 

47 

4 

Total 

48.36 

What  these  tables  show  as  to  the  average  annual  temperature  at 
Houston  and  Galveston  applies  pretty  much  to  all  the  Coast  Country. 
A record  kept  for  thirty  years  at  Victoria  by  Dr.  Cook,  and  verified 
by  the  U.  S.  reports,  show  the  annual  mean  temperature  to  be  70  to 
75;  in  July  80  to  85;  in  January  55  to  65;  maximum  95  to  100; 
minimum  20  to  30  above  zero.  Annual  rain  fall  35  to  40  inches,  the 
same  as  in  Missouri,  Iowa,  Michigan  and  Wisconsin,  and  for  spring 
and  summer  is  20  to  25  inches,  the  same  as  in  above  states,  together 
with  Illinois,  Indiana,  Ohio,  New  York  and  Pennsylvania.  A.  W. 
McLain,  late  of  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture  and  ex- 
Director  of  the  Minnesota  State  Agriculture  Experiment  Station,  made 
a careful  study  of  the  Coast  Country  and  says  of  the  matter  of  tem- 
perature and  rainfall : Average  temperature  in  the  Texas  coast  dis- 
trict, as  shown  by  the  signal  service  records,  taken  at  an  elevation  of 
forty  feet  above  sea  level,  for  the  last  fifteen  years,  has  been  for  the 
spring  months  70. 5 degrees  Fahrenheit ; for  the  summer  months  82.2  ; 
for  the  fall  months  69.8  and  for  the  winter  months  55.7  degrees. 

The  annual  rainfall  of  the  whole  Texas  coast  district  within  the 
rain  belt  is  from  43  to  65  inches,  well  distributed  throughout  the  spring 
and  summer ; besides  the  heavy  dews,  a characteristic  feature  of  the 
region,  furnish  a source  of  daily  refreshment  for  all  for  ms  of  plant  life. 
There  is  commonly  but  little  rainfall  during  the  months  of  October, 
November,  December  and  January,  but  within  the  rain  belt  there  is 
seldom  a lack  of  sufficient  precipitation  at  the  proper  season  for  the 
growth  of  all  field,  garden  and  fruit  crops. 

To  make  a successful  crop  of  any  kind  depends  entirely  upon  the 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


13 


frequent  rains.  The  section  under  review  is  blessed  with  that  much- 
needed  necessity  to  the  soil  producer.  According  to  the  census  report 
of  the  United  States,  the  average  spring  rainfall  is  15^  inches,  while 
10  inches  is  all  that  is  necessary  to  insure  a crop  on  these  lands. 

Concerning  healthfulness,  the  Texas  Commissioner  of  Agricul- 
ture says  (see  5th  An.  Report,  p.  483 ) : “ Away  from  low  places  sub- 
ject to  periodical  overflows,  there  is  absolutely  no  cause  for  sickness, 
and  there  is  no  reason  why  the  state  should  not  become  a health  resort 
as  well  as  a refuge  for  people  seeking  to  escape  the  rigors  of  winter 
in  more  northern  latitudes.  Southwest  Texas — the  Coast  Country — 
has  long  been  recognized  by  some  of  the  leading  physicians  of  the 


Blooded  Stock  in  the  Coast  Country 

United  States  as  possessing  a climate  the  equal  if  not  the  superior  of 
any  in  the  world  for  persons  with  a tendency  to  or  suffering  from  pul- 
monary affections.”  Doubtless  the  experience  common  to  the  rapid 
settlement  of  a new  country  will  be  realized  to  some  extent  in  the 
Coast  Country,  but  many  of  those  who  have  lived  there  for  years 
spoke  confidently  concerning  the  general  healthfulness  of  this  region, 
daily  visited  by  the  salt  sea  air.  The  trade  winds  blow  daily  from 
the  gulf,  reaching  a distance  of  from  seventy-five  to  one  hundred  miles 
inland.  Concerning  the  trade  winds,  the  Commissioner  of  Agricul- 
ture says:  “ They  dispense  life  to  vegetation  and  health  to  the  in- 

habitants wherever  they  reach  ; the  long  summers  characteristic  of 


14 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS- 


this  latitude  are  by  them  rendered  not  only  endurable  but  enjoyable. 
“ So  marked  is  the  influence  of  the  gulf  winds  on  the  climate  of  the 
state  that  the  average  temperature  along  the  gulf  coast  and  for  many 
miles  inland  is  much  lower  during  the  summer  months  than  it  is  in 
the  higher  latitudes  of  the  north.  The  same  influence  neutralizes  the 
cold  of  winter  and  makes  the  southern  part  of  the  state  the  mildest 
and  most  delightful  of  any  state  in  the  Union.” 

At  all  points  eastward  on  the  gulf  and  at  all  points  above  this 
latitude  northward  along  the  entire  Atlantic  coast  to  New  York  the 
thermometer  indicates  a lower  temperature  in  winter  and  a higher 
temperature  in  summer  than  at  Galveston  and  along  the  Texas  Coast 
Country.  In  other  words,  it  is  hotter  in  summer  and  colder  in  winter 
at  any  point  on  the  gulf  or  the  Atlantic  coast  above  this  latitude  than 
in  the  Coast  Country  of  Texas.  The  “ norther,”  an  important  feature 
of  Texas  climate,  is  nothing  more  than  what  is  called  elsewhere  a cold 
north  wind.  The  wind  usually  attains  its  greatest  velocity  in  twenty- 
four  hours,  then  gradually  ceases,  veering  again  to  the  south. 

The  winter  is  a succession  of  pleasant  days  with  the  temperature 
ranging  from  40  to  60  degrees,  falling  three  or  four  times  each  winter 
to  32  and  33  degrees,  and  in  seasons  far  apart  as  low  as  20,  25  and  29 
degrees,  but  these  seasons  of  low  temperature  are  of  short  duration 
and  rare  occurrence  and  seldom  cause  injury.  In  summer  the  tempera- 
ture ranges  from  84  to  88  degrees  for  weeks  and  months  ; the  highest 
temperature  reached  in  Galveston  in  three  succeeding  summers  was 
91,  93  and  96  degrees.  Injury  from  sunstroke  is  almost  unknown. 
July  is  the  warmest  month.  Killing  frosts  do  not  usually  occur  at 
Houston  or  Galveston  until  after  December  1st.  and  the  unwelcome 
visitation  is  frequently  delayed  until  January.  Four  years  in  twenty 
there  was  no  frost  whatever  in  Galveston,  and  in  five  different  years 
there  was  but  a single  frost.  The  last  hard  frost  appears  any  time 
between  January  5 and  February  1. 

In  summer  the  weather  is  without  noticeable  variation.  This 
evenness  of  temperature  is  what  makes  it  possible  for  the  farmer  to 
work  out  of  doors  nearly  every  day  in  the  year  in  comfort.  The  genial 
southern  trade  wind,  blowing  over  a thousand  miles  of  salt  water, 
brings  both  warmth  and  coolness,  and  contributes  to  maintain  a simi- 
larity of  seasons.  This  wind  is  always  in  motion,  but  rarely  with 
enough  violence  to  stir  the  dust. 

No  matter  how  fervent  may  be  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun  a step 
into  shade  brings  pleasant  relief.  The  nights  are  uniformly  agreeable. 
The  climate  is  comparable  to  that  of  Italy  and  Southern  California- 
Contrary  to  accepted  tradition,  the  inhabitants  ot  the  gulf  coast  do  not 
eat  quinine  with  every  meal,  nor  are  their  faces  invariably  sallow. 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


15 


Malaria  is  a fable  and  a dream,  except  when  invited  by  carelessness 
or  ignorance.  Though  this  is  a flat  country  (like  Illinois,  Indiana  and 
Michigan),  it  has  only  few  tracts  of  swampy  land  of  small  extent. 
Where  forests  occur,  along  the  bayous,  they  are  devoid  of  under- 
growth, a sure  sign  that  nothing  is  present  productive  of  ague.  The 
surplus  rainfall  perfectly  drains  into  the  gulf.  Chills  and  fever  only 
appear  sporadically  along  the  overflowed  and  undrained  river  bottoms. 
On  the  high  open  prairies  malaria  is  an  unknown  visitor. 

Colds  and  catarrh  cause  more  suffering  and  bring  about  more 
graveyard  additions  in  the  New  England  states  alone  than  the  com- 
bined diseases  of  the  gulf  coast.  No  epidemic  diseases  have  visited 
this  section  for  a quarter  of  a century.  Periodical  fevers  are  almost 
entirely  absent,  and  the  average  annual  death  rate  in  Galveston  does 
not  exceed  15  per  1,000  inhabitants. 


GARDEN  AND  ORCHARD. 


When  we  turn  to  a consideration  of  the  agricultural  possibilities 
of  the  coast  region  of  Texas  which  has  already  been  defined,  its  capa- 
bilities are  so  large,  the  possibilities  for  profitable  industry  are  so 
groat  that  it  will  be  a difficult  task  to  set  them  forth  so  modestly  as  to 
make  them  seem  credible  to  the  northern  farmer  unaccustomed  to 
and  unfamiliar  with  this  soil  and  climate.  And  in  contrasting  this 
favored  region  with  the  home  of  the  farmer  in  the  northwest  we  are 
reminded  of  the  truthful  picture  which  S.  P.  Panton,  an  experienced 
and  studious  agricultural  observer,  drew  in  a recent  magazine  article. 
Speaking  of  the  northwestern  emigration  he  said  : “ A few  years  of 
great  crops  and  good  prices  in  the  blizzard  belt  of  Minnesota  and  Da- 
kota were  followed  by  several  seasons  of  early  frosts  that  caught  the 
wheat  in  the  milk  ; other  years  the  rains  set  in  at  harvest  time  and 
poured  so  continuously  that  the  wheat  couldn’t  be  threshed,  and 
sprouted  in  the  shock.  The  settlers  were  housed  up  by  blizzards  all 
winter  in  their  little  box  cabins  ; their  children  were  mowed  down  by 
the  scourge  of  diptheria  ; their  lives  were  a dead,  colorless  monotony, 
varied  by  salt  bacon  three  times  a day  when  they  had  it,  and  the  tree- 
less, blizzard-swept  prairie  proved  the  possession  of  land  there  to  be 
anything  but  an  unmixed  blessing.  When  there  were  good  crops  the 
elevator  charges  and  the  freight  charges  for  the  long  haul  to  tidewater 
left  but  little  compensation  for  the  hardships,  the  arduous  toil  and  the 
generally  depressed  lives  of  the  settlers  in  the  blizzard  belt.  There 
was  but  one  crop,  wheat,  therefore  but  one  pay-day  in  the  year  and 
that  uncertain.  The  climatic  eccentricities  kept  the  crop  in  constant 
danger  and  the  farmer  in  constant  anxiety ; and  when  bad  seasons 
succeeded  each  other,  the  farm,  the  crops  in  the  ground  and  even  the 
implements  were  loaded  with  mortgages  at  such  rates  of  interest  that 
from  that  time  forth  the  farmer  was  a slave  to  his  creditors,  and  the 
sooner  he  was  sold  out  the  better  for  him.” 

As  against  the  vicissitudes  and  losses  of  such  a life  as  Mr.  Panton 
describes,  and  which  we  all  know  to  be  a truthful  picture,  the  Coast 
Country  of  Texas  is  a veritable  paradise  and  the  range  of  its  products 
is  bewildering.  All  the  products  of  the  temperate  zone  with  the  ex- 
ception of  wheat  flourish  here,  together  with  all  the  sub-tropic  and 
many  of  the  tropical  growths.  The  truck  farmer  can  plant,  mature 
and  ship  vegetables  at  any  time  of  the  year.  The  horticulturist  has 
every  fruit  at  his  command  and  finds  that,  with  the  possible  excep- 
tion of  certain  varieties  of  cherries  and  apples,  he  can  grow  what  suits 
his  fancy. 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


17 


And  yet  land  in  this  section  can  still  be  bought  at  from  $5  to  $15 
per  acre.  Ten  or  twelve  dollars  would  probably  be  a fair  range  of 
values  for  desirable  lands  such  as  the  home  seeker  from  the  north  or 
east  would  naturally  choose.  That  means  lands  contiguous  to  ship- 
ping facilities,  to  good  markets,  to  schools  and  to  every  environment  of 
civilization,  With  half  the  labor  required  to  make  farms  in  the  north- 
west worth  $40  per  acre  these  lands  in  the  Coast  Country  can  be 
made  worth  $500  per  acre.  It  is  not  a dream  or  a visionary  specula- 
tion. It  has  been  done  and  is  being  done  in  numberless  instances,  and 
these  pages  will  point  to  the  instances  and  give  you  the  opportunity 
of  verifying  the  statement.  A thousand  dollars  brought  here  by  any 
practical  northern  farmer  who  is  willing  to  work  will  be  equivalent 
at  the  beginning  to  $5,000  put  into  a farm  at  the  north;  will  make 
him  absolutely  certain  of  maintaining  himself  independently  from  the 
beginning,  and  in  five  years  give  him  the  enjoyment  of  an  income 
rarely  equalled  on  any  320  acre  farm  in  the  north. 

The  writer  believes  that  the  great  future  of  the  Coast  Country 
lies  in  the  direction  of  orcharding  and  truck-farming.  Intense  farming 
yields  enormous  returns  here  where  two  and  three  crops  are  raised  on 
the  same  ground,  and  instead  of  skimping  and  saving  to  get  enough 
money  to  come  to  Texas  and  buy  a 200  acre  farm  the  home  seeker 
should  remember  that  ten  or  twenty  acres  will  yield  him  immense  re- 
turns if  properly  cultivated.  In  France  five  acres  is  a large  farm,  and 
in  California  ten  acres  suffices  for  any  family.  Even  in  frigid  Massa- 
chusetts a dozen  acres  is  ample  to  secure  a good  income.  In  Holland 
and  Belgium  families  live  in  comfort  on  two  and  three  acres.  What, 
then,  are  the  possibilities  here  ? The  winter  climate  of  the  Coast 
Country  favors  the  growth  of  the  crisp  and  succulent  vegetables  grown 
at  the  north  in  summer,  and  the  rest  of  the  year  can  be  devoted  to 
products  not  grown  north  at  any  time. 

The  sub-tropical  products  include  the  orange,  lemon,  lime,  po- 
melo, shaddock,  pomegranate,  fig,  Japanese  persimmon,  and  the 
grapes  of  the  Mediterranean,  the  ginger,  camphor  and  cinnamon  trees, 
the  cassava,  from  which  tapioca  is  made,  the  great  variety  of  valuable 
fibres;  the  canaigre,  for  tanning  fine  leather,  for  which  there  is  a strong 
demand  throughout  the  civilized  world,  and  innumerable  other  plants 
of  value.  Almost  any  one  of  these  products  intelligently  handled  will 
pay  several  times  the  profit  per  acre  of  the  best  crops  in  the  north- 
west. This  is,  so  far  as  known,  the  only  part  of  the  republic  east  of 
California  where  the  finest  European  grapes  attain  the  greatest  per- 
fection. As  they  ripen  here  from  four  to  six  weeks  earlier  than  in 
California  the  viticulturists  of  this  coast  have  the  run  of  the  markets 
when  there  is  no  competition,  and  their  comparative  proximity  to  the 


i8 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS 


body  of  consumers  gives  them  great  and  permanent  advantages  over 
the  Californians.  These  grapes  are  pruned  down  to  a mere  stump 
and  the  trailers  or  vines  permitted  to  run  out  over  the  ground  as  in 
California  vineyards,  without  the  viticulturist  being  put  to  the  ex- 


pense of  supports,  wires  or  stakes  of  any  kind.  They  are  ready  for 
market  by  the  first  of  June,  and  often  sell  at  that  time  at  twenty-five 
cents  per  pound.  The  yield  is  from  40 to  125  pounds  to  the  vine.  The 
experience  of  the  practical  viticulturists  in  the  Coast  Country  pro- 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS 


19 


nounces  in  favor  of  certain  varieties — Chasselas,  Muscat  or  Muscatelii, 
Chasselas  Rose  de  Peru,  Emperor,  Black  Morocco  or  Tokay  (both 
flame  and  white),  Malaga  or  Chasselas  Napoleon,  Black  Spanish,  Le- 
noir or  Black  Burgundy,  Goethe,  Rogers  No.  1,  Salem,  Rogers  No.  53, 
Niagara,  Black  -July,  Concord,  Roulander,  Delaware,  Missouri, 
Rissling  and  Herbemont. 

If  well  fertilized  most  varieties  come  into  bearing  the  second  year, 
and  when  three  years  old  may  be  counted  on  for  a yield  of  ten  to  fif- 
teen pounds  of  luscious  grapes  to  the  vine  and  much  more  as  they  in- 
crease in  age. 

The  strawberry  season  opens  early  and  about  thirty  days  in  ad- 
vance of  all  competition.  The  sandy  lands  of  southeast  Texas  are 
well  adapted  to  this  berry,  and  the  annual  net  returns  for  some  years 
have  been  $1,000  to  every  three  acres  of  berries.  The  blackberry 
grows  over  a much  larger  territory  and  by  many  have  been  found  to 
be  more  profitable  than  the  strawberry.  Strawberry  picking  and  ship- 
ping begins  about  the  middle  or  latter  part  of  January  and  not  later 
than  February  15th  in  any  part  of  the  Coast  Country,  and  the  early 
berries  often  bring  $ 1 per  quart  in  the  northern  markets.  The  ship- 
ping season  lasts  about  three  months.  One  man  reported  that  he  had 
gathered  1,000  quarts  of  ripe  berries  from  one  acre  in  one  day. 
Another,  who  said  he  was  only  an  amateur  in  gardening,  reported 
that  he  made  $500  per  acre  profit  on  strawberries  last  season. 
Another,  living  two  miles  from  Alvin,  reported  that  he  fertilized  one 
acre  of  ground  with  stable  manure  and.  without  any  assistance  what- 
ever, he  raised  and  marketed  from  that  one  acre,  in  1893,  a croP  of 
strawberries  from  which  he  realized  the  sum  of  $1,326.  On  the  same 
acre  of  land,  in  1892,  he  raised  a crop  of  celery  which  he  sold  for 
$1,000,  doing  all  the  labor  himself.  The  celery  grown  here  is  ready 
for  market  about  the  time  the  northern  crop  is  exhausted. 

The  following  estimates  taken  from  a reliable  source  is  considered 
conservative.  The  cost  of  production  in  the  estimate  is  sufficiently 
high  to  cover  every  item  of  expense,  while  the  estimated  profits  are 
much  less  than  the  actual  average,  and  is  for  an  acre  of  raw  prairie 


land : 

One  acre  of  land,  say $8.00 

Breaking  first  time 3.00 

Harrowing  and  rebreaking .-...  2.50 

13,000  strawberry  plants.  26.00 

Planting 7.00 

Cultivating  twice  and  fertilizer 7.00 


Total 


$53  50 


20 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS- 


This  one  acre  of  strawberries,  set  out  in  June,  July,  or  August, 
will,  if  properly  cared  for,  net  the  owner  the  following  spring  $300 
to  $400.  The  second  year  it  will  net  from  $600  to  $1,000. 

The  average  net  profit  per  acre  from  tomatoes,  according  to  the 
reports  given  by  experienced  farmers,  is  from  $300  to  $400  ; onions, 
$250  to  $400;  strawberries,  $350  to  $500;  peas,  $100  to  $300; 
snapbeans,  $100;  sweet  potatoes,  $150;  Irish  potatoes.  $150;  rad- 
dishes,  $150;  spring  turnips,  $100;  cauliflower,  $400;  cabbage, 
$300;  peaches,  $150;  pears  in  full  bearing,  from  $400  to  $500. 

When  Mr.  H.  M.  Stringfellow  concluded  to  plant  a pear  orchard 
in  Galveston  County  and  make  the  LeConte  pear  his  principal  one, 
his  friends  told  him  of  those  who  had  tried  that  pear  and  failed,  and  to 
beware  of  danger  and  great  loss.  Having  nothing  to  guide  him  in  the 
way  of  other  men’s  success  and  knowing  what  his  friends  told  him 
was  so,  he  concluded  as  a last  resort  to  plantthe  pear  orchard  and  rely 
on  new  methods  for  results.  Last  year  he  marketed  9,127  bushels  of 
pears  off  of  thirteen  acres,  and  paid  out  nearly  $100  per  acre  to  his 
neighbors  as  wages  for  help  and  harvesting,  and  the  crop  netted  him 
$5,245.  His  new  method  was  merely  to  fertilize  his  land  heavily, 
using  as  much  as  a ton  per  acre,  and  his  results  are  a fortune  to  himself 
and  his  descendants.  State  Commissioner  of  Agriculture  J.  E.  Hol- 
lingsworth had  in  his  collection  one  bushel  of  these  pears  and  they 
averaged  33  ounces  each  in  weight  and  would  sell  on  account  of  excel- 
lence in  any  market. 

An  orchard  of  the  LeConte  and  Keifer  pear  trees  upwards  of 
eight  years  of  age,  properly  attended  to,  will  yield  a certain  annual 
revenue  of  $700  per  acre  above  all  expense  of  taking  care  of  the  trees 
and  cost  of  marketing  the  fruit.  The  Le  Conte  and  Keifer  pears  are 
supposed  to  be  American  seedlings  from  the  ancestral  Asiatic  pear, 
which  in  its  own  home  is  an  immense  forest  tree,  often  attaining  to 
the  age  of  300  years.  The  original  Le  Conte  tree  is  still  standing  in 
Georgia,  a magnificent  specimen,  hardy,  beautiful  and  prolific.  These 
wonderful  new  pears  are  as  hardy  as  forest  trees,  of  luxuriant  foliage, 
grow  to  a great  size,  and  are  free  from  blight  and  yield  every  year  an 
enormous  crop  of  fruit  that  sells  in  eastern  and  northern  markets  at 
prices  that  compete  with  the  older  and  better  known  varieties.  As  a 
fruit  for  canning,  drying  or  preserving  they  are  acknowledged  as  un- 
equalled. When  picked  somewhat  green  and  ripened  in  cellars,  many 
connoisseurs  pronounce  them  equal  to  the  famous  Bartlett. 

Never  have  they  failed  to  bud  abundantly,  and  on  the  gulf  coast 
of  Texas  there  has  never  been  a single  failure  of  the  Le  Conte,  Keifer 
and  Carber  pear  crop,  while  in  quality  the  fruits  grown  in  more  north- 
ern climes  suffer  in  comparison. 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


21 


The  Le  Conte  of  the  Coast  Country  is  the  earliest  pear  grown 
anywhere  in  the  United  States.  It  can  be  placed  upon  the  market 
during  the  latter  part  of  June,  which  is  fully  three  weeks  earlier  than 
fruit  can  be  plucked  in  California.  The  Le  Conte  is  a very  delicious 
pear ; while  it  does  not  rank  as  high  as  some  varieties  or  command  the 
highest  prices,  it  is  a pear  that  supplies  the  market  patronized  by  the 
great  middle  class  of  people.  It  is  a very  rapid  grower  and  yields 
abundantly.  Most  of  these  pears  are  shipped  in  car  load  lots  to  Chi- 
cago, where  they  sell  at  from  $1.25  to  $2  per  bushel. 

These  pears  are  very  juicy,  sweet,  and  of  very  fine  grain.  In 
fact  the  whole  Coast  Country  is  the  home  of  the  pear,  and  a great 
deal  of  attention  is  now  being  given  to  the  subject  and  orchards  are 
now  being  set  out  in  all  parts  of  it.  The  rapidity  with  which  vines 
and  trees  mature  is  a perpetual  source  of  amazement  to  the  new 
comer.  A single  branch  of  a grape  vine  made  a growth  of  46  feet  in 
a year  and  produced  a large  crop.  A two-year-old  peach  tree,  planted 
from  the  seed,  measured  five  inches  in  diameter  at  one  foot  from  the 
ground  and  had  a fine  spread  of  limb  and  a very  symmetrical  growth. 

Figs  grow  in  the  greatest  profusion.  Fruit  growers  who  are  be- 
ginning to  cultivate  it  claim  that  it  is  the  most  profitable  fruit  that  can 
be  raised  in  this  locality.  Two  hundred  fig  trees  can  be  planted  to 
the  acre,  which  will  begin  to  bear  in  two  years,  and  be  in  full  bearing 
in  five  years,  and  will  then  yield  annually  400  pounds  of  fruit  each,  a 
net  profit  when  dried  and  preserved  of  $30  a tree.  The  largest  or- 
chard of  fig  trees  which  I know  of  in  the  state  is  near  Port  Lavaca, 
directly  on  the  gulf  coast,  where  there  are  1,300  trees.  At  Port  La- 
vaca 1 also  saw  olive  trees  growing  within  a hundred  yards  of  the 
beach  which  had  withstood  the  cold  weather  of  last  winter  without  ap- 
parent injury.  The  fig  finds  here  a soil  and  climate  as  well  adapted 
to  it  as  any  part  of  California,  and  it  is  only  a question  of  a short  time 
when  the  profits  realized  will  induce  many  people  to  engage  in  its  cul- 
ture and  when  its  preservation  and  shipment  will  become  an  import- 
ant industry. 

Texas  is  the  home  of  the  plum.  It  grows  wild  in  the  woods  in 
luxuriant  profusion.  No  less  than  three  kinds  of  wild  plums  grow  in 
southern  Texas,  and  all  of  fine  quality  and  marketable.  The  culti- 
vated varieties  have  paid  as  high  as  $800  per  acre. 

The  cauliflower  will,  in  the  near  future,  be  raised  in  large  quanti- 
ties for  shipment  in  car  lots.  A salt  atmosphere  seems  to  be  essential 
to  the  perfect  development  of  this  vegetable,  and  as  the  soil  here  is 
admirably  adapted  to  it,  every  condition  is  favorable  to  its  growth.  It 
is  strictly  a fall  vegetable,  and  when  sown  early  in  July  and  set  out 


22 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS 


in  August  in  rich  soil  the  bulk  of  the  crop  can  be  marketed  before 
January. 

Cabbages,  when  planted  at  the  right  time,  yield  large  returns. 
There  is  scarcely  a limit  to  the  quantities  that  can  be  disposed  of  in 
the  northwest,  if  grown  in  sufficient  numbers  to  warrant  car  load  ship- 
ments. They  are  planted  in  September. 

The  tomato  is  another  crop  that  will  head  the  list  for  profit.  It 
is  safely  demonstrated  that  the  tomato  will  produce  abundantly  in  the 
Coast  Country  . It  begins  to  ripen  May  20,  and  at  once  finds  ready 
sale  at  high  prices  all  over  Texas. 

The  small  white  navy  bean  make  two  crops  a year  on  the  same 
land  and  yields  very  abundantly. 

The  Creole  and  White  Queen  onions  are  as  successfully  grown 
here  as  around  New  Orleans.  They  mature  in  April,  just  when  north- 
ern onions  are  sprouting,  and  the  demand  is  unlimited.  Two  hundred 
dollars  an  acre  net  is  considered  an  average  profit,  but  much  larger 
sums  have  been  made  when  greater  care  and  cultivation  has  been 
given  to  the  crop. 

Irish  potatoes  do  well  everywhere ; the  early  planting  rarely 
brings  under  a dollar  a bushel.  They  are  a sure  and  profitable  crop. 
The  early  crop  is  ready  to  be  dug  from  the  20th  of  April  to  the  10th  of 
May.  One  grower  near  Wharton,  in  1894,  by  shipping  in  car  load 
lots  to  Chicago  and  St.  Louis  markets,  netted  $60  per  acre  clear  of 
all  expenses,  including  cultivation,  shipping  and  commissions,  and  im- 
mediately planted  the  same  ground  in  cotton  and  picked  three- fourths 
of  a bale  to  the  acre  last  fall.  This  same  farmer,  in  1895,  shipped 
some  fifteen  cars  to  Chicago  with  even  better  results,  and  at  once 
planted  cotton  on  the  same  land. 

Beans,  peas,  cucumbers,  squash,  beets  and  cantaloupes  are  grown 
in  quantities,  reach  an  early  stage  of  perfection  and  find  a ready 
market. 

Peanuts  almost  grow  wild  and  are  a profitable  crop  when  culti- 
vated. The  nut  flourishes'  best  on  sandy  soil  and  requires  lime.  It  is 
planted  in  rows,  about  like* beans,  only  one  nut  in  a place,  and  is  cul- 
tivated thoroughly  to  keep  down  the  grass  and  weeds  until  the  vines 
nearly  cover  the  ground.  The  established  weight  of  the  peanut  is  22 
pounds  to  the  bushel,  and  the  yield  ranges  all  the  way  from  25  to  100 
bushels  per  acre.  The  price  ranges  from  two  and  one-half  to  six  cents 
per  pound,  and  the  crop  as  a rule,  is  expected  to  pay  better  than  the 
corn  or  potato  crop.  Before  planting,  the  nuts  must  be  shelled  by 
hand  and  great  care  taken  not  to  injure  the  inner  skin.  They  are 
planted  by  hand,  cultivated  largely  by  hand,  ploughed  out  when  ripe, 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


23 


and  the  vines  are  carefully  lifted  with  most  of  the  nuts  adhering  to 
them,  and  stacked  up  in  small  piles,  just  as  beans  are  harvested  in 
many  places.  Here  they  stand  for  several  weeks  until  the  nuts  and 
the  vines  are  both  cured.  Then  the  nuts  are  picked  off  and  sacked 
for  transportation  to  market. 

The  melon  crop  is  a very  important  and  profitable  one.  One 
county  realized  from  230  acres  last  year  the  handsome  sum  of  $32,966. 
This  county  was  equally  successful  with  “garden  truck,”  as  it  reports 

399  acres  valued  at  $130,660. 

Experiments  with  California  apricots  and  cherries  in  the  vicinity 
of  Victoria  have  proven  most  successful. 

Of  sweet  potatoes  there  is  literally  no  end.  They  grow  here  as 
they  grow  nowhere  else,  and  numberless  instances  could  be  cited  in 
proof  of  the  fact.  Two  crops  a year  are  grown  on  the  same  ground. 
B.  C.  Moffett,  of  Galveston  County,  raises  400  bushels  to  the  acre  and 
finds  a ready  sale  for  them  at  $1  per  bushel.  Single  specimens  weigh- 
ing over  nine  pounds  were  shown  the  writer.  J.  Brogden,  living  near 
Bryan,  in  Brazos  County,  demonstrated  that  cotton  was  not  the  most 
profitable  crop  by  planting  six  acres  in  sweet  potatoes  last  year.  He 
sold  200  bushels  at  fifty  cents  a bushel  to  the  local  trade,  and  shipped 

400  bushels  to  Waco, Texas,  at  forty-five  cents  per  bushel,  and  had  at 
home  200  bushels  more.  The  money  value  of  the  crop  thus  reaches 
at  least  $380,  or  nearly  $65  per  acre.  The  sweet  potato  is  one  of  our 
most  important  vegetables,  according  to  the  statistics  of  the  fifth  annual 
report  of  the  Agricultural  Bureau  of  Texas.  The  value  of  the  potato 
crop  for  that  year  was  $1,503,764.  Total  number  of  acres  planted 
was  20,928,  The  value  per  acre  was  $50.25.  The  cost  of  growing 
crops  of  corn,  wheat,  cotton  and  potatoes  is  very  nearly  the  same. 
The  tops  of  sweet  potatoes  make  a fine  feed  for  cattle,  especially 
milch  cows.  The  vineless  potato  tops  are  particularly  valuable  in  that 
they  remain  green  during  several  drouths,  when  it  is  difficult  to  get 
green  grass  with  which  to  feed.  They  may  be  cut  with  a mowing 
machine  and  put  up  like  fodder.  They  should  be  mixed  with  cotton 
seed  or  cotton  seed  meal. 

In  the  vicinity  of  Victoria  1 saw  olive  trees  which  had  gone 
through  the  phenomenal  freeze  of  February,  1895,  and  appeared 
thrifty  and  vigorous. 

Peaches  of  varieties  adapted  to  local  conditions  of  soil  and  expos- 
ure have  proven  very  profitable.  At  the  eastern  limit  of  the  Coast 
Country  the  success  which  has  attended  the  efforts  of  W.  A.  Ward, 
of  Jefferson  County,  a practical  fruit  farmer  who  moved  to  that 
county  from  Dakota,  in  the  growth  of  peaches,  has  probably  done 
more  to  bring  the  people  to  a realization  of  the  possibilities  of  the  soil 


24 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


than  anything  else.  It  has  demonstrated  that  almost  any  kind  of  ag- 
ricultural products  would  mature  in  the  eastern  Coast  Country  just 
as  it  does  all  through  it,  and  for  such  fruits  as  strawberries,  grapes, 
plums,  etc.,  the  soil  and  climate  were  equal  in  every  respect  to  that  of 
California,  but  the  peach  was  shelved  and  tabooed  as  one  of  the  im- 
possibilities in  Jefferson  and  Orange  counties.  In  fact  when  Mr 
Ward  was  setting  out  his  orchard  many  weil-meaning  friends  warned 


him  that  he  was  wasting  time  and  money.  They  assured  him  that 
something  more  than  forty  years  ago  an  attempt  was  made  to  grow 
peaches  in  Jefferson  County  and  it  proved  a dismal  failure.  Mr. 
Ward  persisted,  however,  and  to-day  he  has  one  of  the  healthiest  and 
prettiest  orchards  in  the  state  and  is  hauling  to  Beaumont  the  finest 
flavored  peach  that  has  ever  been  put  on  the  market.  This  is 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


25 


the  verdict  of  the  people  of  Beaumont  who  have  seen  the  orchard  and 
eaten  of  the  fruit. 

Near  Sour  Lake  there  is  a peach  orchard  of  one  and  two  year  old 
trees  from  which  fruit  in  merchantable  quantities  was  actually  sent  to 
market  this  year. 

The  bee  industry  is  one  which  promises  much  in  the  coast  region. 
At  a late  California  convention  of  beekeepers,  Mr.  Francis  W.  Black- 
ford, in  an  essay  on  bee  keeping,  among  other  facts  said  that  the  an- 
nual value  of  honey  in  the  United  States  is  close  upon  $100,000,000 
and  the  number  of  colonies  of  bees  kept  by  apiarists  equaled  about 
one-fifth  of  the  number  of  sheep  in  the  United  States.  This  would  place 
the  number  of  colonies  of  bees  at  9,000,000,  which,  at  an  average  value 
of  only  $3  a colony,  would  represent  an  investment  of  $20,000,000 
in  bees  alone. 

Mrs.  Jennie  Atchley,  of  Beeville,  who  is  one  of  the  most  success- 
ful apiarists  in  the  country,  says  : 

“Since  1 have  located  my  queen  rearing  establishment  and  bee 
keeping  plant  in  Bee  County,  1 have  spared  neither  time  nor  pains  to 
fully  explore  this  as  a bee  country.  I find  wild  bees  in  great  profusion 
here  as  well  as  tame  bees,  and  find  that  the  bees  kept  here  are  the 
native  stock  with  only  a touch  of  the  Italian  blend  occasionally,  and 
they  are  rich  in  stores  and  prosper  without  attention.  1 am  fully  sat- 
isfied that  this  country  will  never  experience  a failure  of  a honey  crop 
as  does  California  and  other  parts  of  the  Pacific  coast,  because  our 
honey  here  is  gathered  from  trees  and  shrubs  that  are  not  affected  by 
dry  weather  like  the  sages  and  honey  plants  of  California.  1 find  that 
the  honey  here  will  compare  favorably  with  the  clearer  honey  of  the 
north,  and  is  pronounced  by  A.  1.  Root,  a noted  bee  man  of  Medina, 
Ohio,  as  being  as  fine  honey  as  he  ever  saw.  The  climate  here  is 
just  right  for  the  propagation  of  the  honey  bee  the  year  round,  and  to 
make  a long  matter  short  will  say  that  I consider  this  the  finest  bee 
country  in  the  United  States.” 

The  possibilities  of  successful  artificial  use  of  water  in  truck  farm- 
ing, in  the  exceptional  instances  where  it  is  needed,  has  been  amply 
demonstrated  by  Messrs.  Kohler  and  Heldenfels  on  their  great  truck 
farm  near  Beeville,  at  the  very  southwestern  limit  of  the  section  of 
the  Coast  Country  we  have  been  describing.  Their  “farm  ” com- 
prises 20,000  acres,  8,000  in  cultivation.  Two  years  ago  a large  tank 
was  constructed  on  the  farm  capable  of  holding  700,000  gallons  of 
water.  This  tank  is  about  100  feet  in  circumference  and  16  feet  deep. 
The  earth  was  excavated  to  a depth  of  six  feet  and  a ten-foot  embank- 
ment thrown  up.  The  earth  was  then  packed  perfectly  solid  and  the 
inside  cemented.  The  tank  is  round  and  very  much  resembles  an 


26 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


immense  washbowl.  A well  was  bored  to  a depth  of  107  feet  at  a dis- 
tance of  30  feet  from  the  tank.  A windmill  and  pump  were  placed  in 
position,  and  at  every  stroke  of  the  piston  a gallon  of  water  is  dis- 
charged into  the  tank.  A similar  well  was  bored  a short  distance  fur- 
ther from  the  tank,  and  a windmill  and  pump  placed  thereon  with  a 
like  capacity.  The  water  sparkles  and  bubbles  as  it  pours  into  the 
big  basin,  and  is  of  a pure  blue-white  color,  very  much  resembling 
the  water  of  Niagara  River  as  it  speeds  over  the  cataract  at  the  falls. 
It  is  of  good  drinking  quality,  pure  and  clear. 

The  catch-basin  or  water  tank  is  on  the  highest  point  of  land,  and 
when  water  is  needed  to  irrigate  all  that  is  necessary  is  to  open  the 
floodgates  and  let  it  flow  over  the  ground.  The  finest  crop,  largest 
yield  and  best  creole  onions  ever  seen  in  Texas  were  grown  in  the 
field  near  the  tank.  The  tank,  well  cemented  and  capable  of  storing 
nearly  three-quarters  of  a million  gallons  of  water,  cost  between  5500 
and  $600.  The  two  windmills  and  pumps  placed  in  position  cost, 
say,  $150  each.  Here  we  have  an  outlay  of  between  $800  and  3900. 
But  look  at  the  results.  The  land  has  produced  over  ten  tons  of  onions 
to  the  acre,  which,  at  the  prevailing  price  of  $40  per  ton  on  board 
the  car,  is  $400.  The  crop  gathered  from  two  acres  of  onion  seed 
pays  for  all  the  improvements,  and  the  tank  has  a capacity  to  irrigate 
twenty  acres. 

Under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Maxwell,  who  is  an  experienced  gar- 
dener, thousands  of  grape  cuttings  of  the  best  varieties  have  been  set 
out.  Pear,  peach,  plum,  persimmon  and  orange  trees  by  the  thousand 
have  been  planted,  and  a young  nursery  of  choice  fruit  trees  will 
soon  be  in  a flourishing  condition  on  the  farm. 

In  summing  up  this  whole  subject  no  more  exhaustive  or  author- 
itative summary  could  be  presented  than  the  letter  which  that  intel- 
ligent and  experienced  gentleman  G.  A.  Forsgard,  of  Houston,  Secre- 
tary to  the  District  Alliance  Exchange  of  Southern  Texas,  prepared 
as  the  result  of  almost  half  a century  of  study  and  practical  experi- 
ment in  the  Coast  Country,  and  which  is  recognized  as  authoritative. 
It  has  the  endorsement  of  the  best  known  truck  farmers  of  the  region. 
In  this  open  letter  Mr.  Forsgard  says  : 

Gentlemen: — In  reply  to  your  request  for  some  information  as  to 
the  climate  and  products  of  this  portion  of  Texas,  especially  in  reference 
to  truck  farming,  1 will  give  such  facts  as  a forty-six  years  residence 
here  have  brought  within  my  experience  and  observation. 

A truck  farm  may  and  should  have  something  growing  on  it  every 
month  in  the  year.  And  this  is  as  much  as  need  be  said  about  the 
climate.  In  order  to  have  this  the  sowing  should  be  done  as  follows : 

November.  To  start  now,  cabbage,  spinach,  peas,  onions,  etc., 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS- 


2 7 


and  red  oats,  clover,  alfalfa,  rye,  barley,  lettuce,  turnips  and  radishes. 

December.  Peas,  carrots,  cabbage,  raddishes  and  parsley.  Lat- 
ter part  of  the  month  potatoes  may  do. 

January.  Turnips,  lettuce,  cabbage,  cauliflower,  peas,  potatoes, 
and  transplant  onions,  shallots  and  cabbage. 

February.  Beets,  mustard’,  leek,  peas,  beans,  main  crop  of  pota- 
toes, early  corn. 

March.  Beans,  squash,  cucumbers,  melons,  okra.  Potatoes  may 
still  be  sown,  and  corn,  sorghum  and  millet. 

April.  All  tender  vegetables  may  now  be  sown,  and  plants  from 
hot  beds,  tomatoes  and  peppers  set  out ; also  sweet  potatoes,  mil- 
let, corn,  beans  and  okra. 

May.  During  this  month  very  few  vegetables  can  be  sown,  but 
where  potatoes,  onions  and  other  crops  have  been  taken  off,  corn, 
mellons,  cucumbers,  squash,  pumpkins,  etc.,  maybe  planted ; also 
some  varieties  of  cabbage,  late  Italian  cauliflower,  sweet  potatoes, 
cow  peas,  sorghum  and  black  eyed  peas. 

June.  If  the  weather  is  favorable  plant  and  sow  same  as  in  May, 
but  the  most  of  the  time  will  be  demanded  by  the  growing  crop. 

July.  Bush  and  pole  beans,  corn,  sweet  potatoes,  millet,  broom 
corn,  cow  peas,  etc.,  may  still  be  planted,  and  seeds  of  cabbage,  cauli- 
flower, etc.,  should  be  sown  in  cold  frames;  for  the  fall  garden  sow 
cow  peas. 

August.  Carrots,  celery,  potatoes,  shallots,  millet  and  peas. 

September.  Early  peas,  beans,  parsnips,  salsify,  onions,  kale, 
and  spinach.  Set  out  cabbage,  etc. 

October.  Onions,  marrowfat  peas,  cow  peas,  salsify,  oats,  bar- 
ley and  rye  may  be  sown. 

The  list  might  be  enlarged  but  enough  has  been  said  to  give  the 
intelligent  truck  farmer  a hint  as  to  what  class  of  vegetables  or  prod- 
ucts are  suitable  in  this  southeast  Texas  Coast  Country  for  each 
season  or  every  month  in  the  year,  and  from  which  a selection  can  be 
made  for  an  intelligent  and  practical  succession  or  rotation  cf  crops. 

Strawberry  plants  should  be  set  out  this  month  or  as  soon  after 
as  land  is  in  condition,  but  any  time  from  September  to  April  will  do. 

Trees  of  all  kinds  should  be  transplanted  as  soon  after  growth 
has  stopped  as  possible,  but  may  be  done  successfully  as  late  as  Feb- 
ruary. 

Nearly  all  kinds  of  clover  and  grass  do  best  if  sown  in  the  fall 
months. 

It  is  of  course  understood  that  hot  beds,  cold  frames  and  like  pro- 
tection and  helps  are.  desirable  and  necessary  for  the  forwarding  of 
crops. 


28 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS 


Every  farmer  knows  the  time  that  each  product  named  will  re- 
quire to  mature,  but  1 will  say  from  two  to  six  months,  or  an  average 
of  three  months.  From  this  you  will  see  that  after  making  due  al- 
lowance for  variations  of  seasons  and  time  for  preparing  the  ground, 
still  three  crops  can  be  taken  off  or  raised  on  the  same  ground  every 
twelve  months.  1 do  not  mean  to  say  that  three  good  crops  will  be 
raised  on  the  same  ground  every  year,  but  I do  say  it  may  and  can. 
No  such  thing  as  fail.  Do  not  think  it  necessary  to  tell  a farmer  how 
to  farm. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  in  order  to  produce  abundant  and  con- 
tinuous crops  liberal  manuring  is  necessary  on  any  land.  None  know 
this  better  than  our  successful  truck  farmers  near  New  Orleans, 
where  they  have  the  richest  soil  on  earth  ; but  expensive  commercial 
fertilizers  are  not  necessarily  the  best.  In  my  opinion  the  barnyard 
manure  is  equal  if  not  better  for  all  purposes,  and  the  plowing  under 
of  clover,  cow  peas  and  other  green  crops,  probably  the  best  and 
cheapest  of  all,  especially  here  where  they  grow  so  luxuriantly  at  any 
season  of  the  year.  Where  forage  for  cattle  and  hogs  can  be  so  easily 
produced,  and  where  fat  beef,  pork  and  butter  bring  so  good  returns, 
the  question  of  barnyard  manure  is  easily  solved  on  a truck  farm. 

In  the  list  of  vegetables  named  I omitted  some  that  do  not  prop- 
erly belong  to  an  ordinary  farm  but  should  still  have  a place  in  every 
farm  garden,  for  in  my  opinion  farming  includes  the  raising  of  every- 
thing that  the  ground  can  be  made  to  produce.  If  not  raised  for  sale 
it  will  come  in  to  supply  the  home  table  and  save  the  spending  of 
money  for  some  less  palatable  and  less  wholesome  food.  And  right 
here  I must  mention  henberries  and  dairy  fruit  as  among  the  most  de- 
sirable products  of  a farm  for  home  consumption,  and  any  place  where 
chickens,  eggs,  milk  and  butter  are  not  constant  “companions  of  the 
breakfast  table”  should  not  be  called  a farm,  especially  where  the 
means  of  support  for  hens  and  cows  are  as  easily  obtained  as  in  this 
section 

1 must  say  that  I would  not  consider  a farm  suitable  or  desirable 
as  a home  for  young  or  old  without  fruit  and  flowers,  but  cheerless  as 
a landscape  without  sunshine.  And  here  where  it  can  be  had  with  so 
little  care  every  farm  worthy  of  the  name  of  “ home  ” should  be  sur- 
rounded by  the  evidences  of  refinement  and  taste,  which  beget  cheer- 
fulness and  health.  Such  as  roses,  jessamines,  crape-myrtle,  olean- 
ders, figs,  scuppernongs,  plums,  peaches,  pomegranates  are  all  at  home 
here,  besides  cinnamon,  arrow  root,  cardimon,  ginger,  pineapple, 
kaki,  guava,  oranges  and  many  other  tropical  fruit,  flower  and  foliage 
plants  which,  if  not  profitable,  still  deserve  a . place  in  every  farm 
yard  for  their  beauty  and  consequently  moral  and  healthful  influence 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


29 


In  reply  to  the  stereotyped  question,  “Which  will  be  the  most 
profitable  branch  of  agriculture  for  any  one  to  follow  in  this  Coast 
Country,  and  what  is  the  soil  best  adapted  for?”  1 will  say,  that 
which  you  best  understand.  You  can  find  land  and  locations  suited 
to  fruit,  melons,  truck,  dairy,  or  any  branch  you  best  understand. 
If  you  understand  your  business  you  will  know  when  you  see  the 
land  if  it  is  suited  for  you  or  not.  If  you  do  not,  the  fact  that  some-one 
else  has  made  a grand  success  is  no  evidence  that  you  will,  any  more 
than  if  some  one  was  to  say  to  me:  “Ole  Bull  made  money  and  a 
world  wide  fame  by  playing  the  violin  ; here  is  a fiddle,  go  and  do  like- 
wise.” Shall  I try  ? The  climate  and  soil  is  here,  “ all  over  in  spots” 
through  the  Gulf  Coast  Country,  and  I have  lived  here  since  1848. 
I know  the  land  and  climate  as  well  as  any  one,  having  accumulated 
considerable  experience  if  nothing  else.  I may  and  probably  will  live 
long  enough  to  see  this  Gulf  Coast  Country  “ a little  Eden  ” (except- 
ing apples),  and  think  all  that  is  required  to  make  it  so  is  a little 
money,  a little  energy  and  intelligence  enough  to  push  the  nauseating 
weeds  and  tenacious  cocklebur  from  the  yard  and  fence  corner  and  re- 
place them  with  the  fragrant  jessamine,  brilliant  canna,  stately  ban- 
ana and  the  numerous  lovely  shrubs,  vines  and  foliage  plants  which 
only  need  a chance  to  grow  equally  rampant.  “ A hint  is  as  good  as 
a word,”  but  “ a word  to  the  wise  is  sufficient.” 

G.  A.  Forsgard.” 


CEREALS  AND  FIELD  CROPS. 


The  fertile  lands  of  the  Coast  Country  produce  from  three-quart- 
ers to  a bale  and  a half  of  cotton  to  the  acre.  Last  fall  the  writer 
met  and  talked  with  W.  T.  Taylor,  of  Wharton  He  and  his  brother  ’ 

cultivate  2,000  acres,  and  on  the  rich,  black  soil  of  their  farm  they 
raised  eighty  bushels  of  corn  to  the  acre  both  in  ’94  and  ’95. 
In  spite  of  the  dry  weather  of  the  past  season — the  first  drouth,  Mr. 
Taylor  says,  that  he  has  known  in  thirty  years  in  the  Coast  Coun- 
try— they  raised  600  bales  of  cotton  on  750  acres  In  Jefferson 
County  as  high  as  thirty-nine  bales  have  been  raised  on  twenty-nine 
acres,  but  the  more  profitable  rice  crop  has  driven  it  out  of  the  field. 
The  entire  Coast  Country  is  adapted  to  cotton  growing.  The  import- 
ance of  cotton  in  our  foreign  trade  relations  can  be  appreciated  from 
the  simple  statement  that  since  1875  our  exports  of  this  staple  have 
been  valued  at  $3,800,000,000,  while  the  total  exports  of  wheat  and 
flour  combined  for  the  same  period  have  been  $2,500,000,000,  showing 
a difference  of  $1,300,000,000,  or  over  fifty  per  cent  in  favor  of  cot- 
ton. Moreover,  during  the  same  period  we  have  exported  about 
$200,000,000  of  manufactured  cotton  goods,  making  the  full  value 
really  $4,000,000,000.  Compared  with  the  exports  of  wheat,  flour 
and  corn  combined,  the  value  of  which,  since  1875,  has  been  $3,100,- 
000,000,  there  is  a difference  in  favor  of  cotton  of  $900,000,000. 
Going  back  to  1820,  it  is  found  that  the  total  value  of  flour  and  wheat 
exported  for  the  last  seventy-four  years  is  $3,913,000,000,  or  $100,- 
000,000  less  than  the  value  of  the  cotton  export  during  the  last 
eighteen  years.  Instead  of  these  exports  decreasing,  it  is  but  natural 
to  suppose  that  they  will  gradually  increase,  and  as  they  increase  the 
demand  will  grow  in  proportion.  Many  of  the  older  states  that  were 
once  great  producers  of  cotton  are  raising  less  of  the  staple  yearly  on 
account  of  the  soil  wearing  out  by  continuous  use,  thus  necessitating 
the  opening  up  of  new  sections  for  the  cultivation  of  cotton.  At  pres- 
ent no  section  of  the  south  offers  greater  inducements  to  the  cotton 
planter  than  the  gulf  coast  of  Texas.  The  land  is  all  new  and  splend- 
idly adapted  to  cotton,  while  the  climate  is  unexcelled.  Another  great 
advantage  to  be  derived  from  raising  cotton  is  the  use  to  which  ihe 
seed  can  be  put -an  advantage  not  known  until  a few  years  ago. 
Aside  from  the  oil  that  is  taken  from  the  seed  it  is  an  excellent  feed 
for  cattle,  and  nothing  fattens  cattle  quicker  than  cotton  seed  meal 
and  hulls,  the  hulls  acting  as  a roughness,  just  as  fodder  does  when  fed 
with  corn. 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS- 


31 


Cotton  and  Corn  in  the  Gulf  Country. 


32 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS 


Throughout  all  the  coast  region  there  are  public  gins  where  the 
farmer  can  have  the  seed  removed  from  the  staple  and  the  cotton 
baled.  There  are  also  cotton  seed  oil  mills,  as  notably  at  Cuero, 
which  created  a staple  market  for  the  seed  which  is  a large  source  of 
revenue,  being  ordinarily  equal  to  $8  per  bale.  With  cotton  at  pre- 
vailing prices  the  yield  of  a bale  to  the  acre  is  equivalent  to  $40  or 
$45  per  acre.  During  the  past  year  a great  deal  of  the  long  staple 
Sea  Island  cotton  was  grown  in  the  neighborhood  of  Port  Lavaca,  the 
seed  being  imported  direct  from  South  Carolina.  The  experiments 
carried  on  with  Sea  Island  cotton  during  previous  years  were  so  suc- 
cessful that  the  acreage  was  largely  increased  this  year,  and  two 
roller  gins  were  putin  by  enterprising  farmers  to  handle  this  valuable 
staple.  The  coast  lands  of  Carolina  and  Georgia,  on  which  the  Sea 
Island  crop  is  now  produced,  are  fertilized  at  an  average  cost  of  $5 
per  acre.  The  Texas  coast  has  rich  virgin  soil,  and  farmers  escape 
this  tax  and  can  distance  their  eastern  competitors,  and  many  predict 
that  in  the  next  five  years  the  credit  of  being  the  first  Sea  Island  cotton 
market  of  the  world  will  be  transferred  from  Charleston,  S.  C.,  to 
Galveston  or  Houston.  Another  advantage  that  the  Texas  coast 
farmer  has  is  the  cheapness  of  labor.  Mexican  cotton  pickers  can  be 
brought  in  by  the  hundreds  from  counties  west.  Last  fall  these  peo- 
ple picked  common  cotton  at  wages  ranging  from  twenty-five  to  fifty 
cents  per  hundred  pounds  It  will  pay  to  give  seventy-five  cents  per 
hundred  for  picking  fine  cotton.  On  the  Atlantic  coast  the  phosphate 
industry  has  created  a demand  for  colored  labor  at  fair  wages,  and 
last  fall  the  planters  were  compelled  to  pay  from  $1  to  $ 1.50  per 
hundred  pounds. 

Sugar  cane  is  one  of  the  most  profitable  crops  on  the  rich  Brazos 
bottom  lands,  and  it  is  estimated  that  there  are  a million  acres  capable 
of  cultivation  in  this  crop.  In  the  center  of  it,  at  Sugarland,  con- 
venient of  access  is  the  great  Cunningham  sugar  mill  and  refinery. 
Sugar  cane  is  one  of  the  most  profitable  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  re- 
liable crops  that  can  be  grown  anywhere.  It  yields  a profit  of  from 
$50  to  $70  per  acre  to  the  grower,  one  acre  of  ground  turning  off 
twenty  tons  of  cane  where  it  is  well  and  thoroughly  cultivated. 

To  plant  an  acre  of  cane  requires  from  four  to  five  tons  of  seed 
cane  worth,  say,  $4.00  per  ton;  including  labor  of  planting,  S5.00 
per  ton.  As  planting  is  necessary  only  every  third  or  fourth  year, 
the  expense  of  planting  may  be  estimated  annually  at  from  S6.00  to 
$8.00  per  acre.  After  planting,  the  expense  of  cultivation  is  very 
little  greater  than  the  same  acreage  in  cotton. 

The  drawback  to  the  extension  and  popularity  of  cane  growing 
heretofore  has  been  the  large  amount  of  capital  required  to  erect  and 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS 


33 


equip  the  necessary  sugar  houses  and  plant  for  converting  the  cane 
into  sugar  and  syrup.  Only  the  wealthy  were  able  to  engage  in  the 
■business,  but  with  the  inauguration  of  the  “central  factory  system,’’ 
so  well  and  successfully  operated  in  Cuba,  and  now  being  introduced 
with  equal  success  in  Louisiana,  by  which  the  growing  of  the  cane, 
and  the  manufacture  of  sugar  are  separated,  the  cultivation  of  sugar 
cane  in  this  section  is  destined  to  become  one  of  the  most  popular 
and  profitable  branches  of  farming.  Under  this  system  the  farmer 
can  grow  ten  acres  or  five  hundred  acres  of  cane  as  may  suit  his 
ability  and  contract  the  same  to  the  factory  at  so  much  per  ton  de- 
livered. This  system  also  enables  many  owners  of  sugar  lands  to 
rent  them  to  tenant  farmers. 

Though  this  industry  is  only  in  its  infancy  in  Texas,  only  about 
15,000  acres  being  planted  in  cane,  yet  the  Texas  sugar  crop  last 
year  sold  for  $1,500,000;  an  average  of  nearly  $100.00  per  acre. 
One  man  in  the  Texas  coast  sold  last  year  $35,000  worth  of  sugar 
off  his  plantation. 

Mr.  J.  H.  B.  House,  owner  of  the  “Areola  Plantation,’’  near 
Houston,  says:  “The  average  profit  on  the  Areola  plantation  per 

acre  per  annum,  in  cultivating  sugar  cane,  is  $60.  The  crop  is  never 
failing,  though  some  years  it  is  much  larger  than  others.’’ 

Throughout  the  greater  portion  of  the  Coast  Country  sorghum  is 
grown  for  feed,  for  stock  and  for  syrup. 

Mr.  R.  F.  Jett,  of  Tarkington  Prairie,  Liberty  county,  stated 
that  from  one  acre  he  would  make  250  gallons  of  syrup,  for  which  he 
found  ready  sale  at  40  cents.  His  expenses  were  computed  at  $25, 
which  deducted,  leaves  a clear  gain  of  $75  from  one  acre.  He  is 
now  preparing  to  plant  eight  or  ten  acres  next  year.  Throughout 
almost  the  whole  region  sorghum  is  grown,  not  only  as  a nutritious 
feed  for  stock  but  for  the  syrup  which  it  yields.  Today  sorghum  is 
worth  25  to  30  cents  per  gallon  by  the  car  load,  and  if  the  cane  was 
raised  for  the  syrup  alone  it  would  be  a largely  profitable  crop. 

Aside  from  its  value  for  molasses,  the  seed  is  fast  becoming  an 
article  of  trade.  It  is  fast  taking  the  place  of  millet  for  food.  Many 
farmers  are  sowing  it  for  forage  for  stock,  and  the  results  are  satis- 
factory. It  is  the  experience  of  many  farmers  and  stockmen  that 
cattle  can  be  fed  through  the  entire  winter  on  cane  fodder,  and 
come  out  better  in  the  spring  than  on  any  other  food,  except 
corn.  A seed  firm  reports  that  they  paid  $1.10  per  bushel  for  the 
first  crop  ever  raised  in  that  vicinity,  and  have  paid  as  high  as  $1. 50 
for  cane  seed. 

Millet  is  a reliable  crop,  producing  from  two  to  four  tons  per  acre 
and  marketable  at  $10.00  per  ton. 


34 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS 


Sweet  Cassava  is  another  of  the  money  making  crops  which  can 
be  successfully  grown  here.  Cassava  is  a name  which  should  prop- 
erly apply  only  to  the  purified  starch  derived  from  the  roots  of  the 
plant,  but  it  has  passed  into  general  use  to  designate  the  plant 
itself.  The  yield  under  favorable  conditions  is  astonishing,  one 
plant  of  one  years  growth  weighed  fifty  pounds,  being  at  the  rate  of 
more  than  1,500  bushels  to  the  acre.  Eight  hundred  to  one  thousand 
bushels  per  acre  can  be  confidently  counted  on.  It  is  very  produc- 
tive; it  has  a remarkable  immunity  from  drouth,  flood  and  disease;  it 
is  easy  to  harvest,  easy  of  estivation  and  occupies  the  ground  dur- 
ing the  whole  growing  season  to  the  exclusion  of  noxious  plants. 
The  pork  made  from  feeding  it  is  solid  and  delicate  as  chicken,  and 
the  lard  is  as  firm  as  that  of  corn-fed  hogs.  It  produces  a good  flow 
of  rich  milk  and  firm,  golden  butter.  From  one  acre  of  cassava 
enough  roots  may  be  obtained  to  fatten  ten  hogs  or  feed  three  milch 
cows  during  the  entire  year. 

Soil  suitable  for  corn  is  appropriate  for  cassava.  It  must  not, 
however,  be  wet  land  or  land  subject  to  overflow,  as  that  will  rot  the 
tubers.  Frost,  if  severe,  will  kill  the  plant  so  effectually  that  but  a 
small  proportion  will  sprout  again.  By  saving  the  stumps  when  the 
roots  are  dug  and  planting  them  they  will  sprout  and  grow,  though 
the  tops  be  killed  two  or  three  times.  There  are  about  2740  hills 
per  acre.  On  land  that  will  not  grow  more  thafi  five  bushels  of  corn 
per  acre,  cassava  will  average  from  three  to  five  pounds  per  hill,  or 
at  a very  moderate  estimate  four  to  five  tons  per  acre. 

The  cassava  root  contains  a,  large  proportion  of  starch,  twenty- 
five  per  cent  of  the  weight  of  the  fresh  root. 

The  profit  which  the  farmer  may  make  from  growing  this  - 
crop  and  the  manufacturer  from  using  it  should  be  based  upon  a 
yield  of  four  to  five  tons  per  acre.  If  it  be  desired  to  make  starch 
from  the  plant,  we  may  suppose  as  a minimum  rate  of  yield,  that 
twenty  per  cent  of  the  weight  of  the  fresh  root  may  be  obtained  as 
merchantable  starch  of  a high  grade.  On  a yield  of  four  tons  per 
acre  this  would  amount  to  eight-tenths  of  a ton  or  1600  pounds. 
Compare  this  with  the  weight  of  starch  obtained  from  Indian  corn 
producing  forty  bushels  per  acre.  The  yield  of  merchantable  starch 
of  a high  grade  may  be  placed  at  thirty-five  pounds  per  bushel,  which 
for  forty  bushels  would  amount  to  1400  pounds.  It  is  thus  seen  that 
the  rate  of  yield  per  acre  in  the  matter  of  starch  from  cassava  would 
be  fully  equal  if  not  superior  to  that  from  Indian  corn. 

If  the  matter  of  the  manufacture  of  glucose  be  considered 
the  estimate  is  even  more  favorable.  Experiments  have  shown 
that  after  the  removal  of  the  bark  the  whole  root  may  be  rasped  and 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


35 


treated  directly  fur  the  manufacture  uf  glucose,  either  by  inversion 
with  diastase  or  by  treating  with  dilute  sulphuric  acid.  In  the  latter 
case  not  only  were  the  starch  and  sugar  present  in  the  root  obtained 
as  glucose,  but  also  a considerable  quantity  of  the  digestible  fibre. 
It  is  not  an  extravagant  statement,  therefore,  to  suppose  that  fully 
thirty  per  cent  on  the  weight  of  the  fresh  root  could  be  obtained  as 
commercial  glucose.  This  would  give  a yield  per  acre  of  1.2  tons,  or 
2400  pounds.  These  statements  are  made,  of  course,  subject  to  the 
practical  determinations  of  the  manufacture  of  glucose  and  starch 
from  this  plant.  Attempts  have  already  been  made  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  starch,  but  of  course  the  full  development  of  this  industry 
must  await  the  investment  of  capital  and  the  necessary  adjustment 
of  new  machinery  to  new  processes. 

The  conclusion  reached  by  scientists  and  practical  experiment- 
ers with  respect  to  this  new  plant  are  as  as  follows: 

1.  Cassava  can  be  cultivated  with  safety  and  profit  in  the  great- 
er part  of  the  peninsular  of  Florida,  Southern  Alabama,  Mississippi, 
Louisiana  and  Texas. 

2.  It  will  yield  with  fair  treatment  on  the  sand  soils  from  four 
to  five  tons  per  acre. 

3.  It  will  give  when  properly  manufactured,  from  twenty  to 
twenty-five  per  cent  of  the  weight  of  the  fresh  root  in  starch  of  high 
grade. 

4.  The  starch  is  naturally  in  a pure  state  and  no  chemicals  of 
any  kind  are  necessary  in  its  manufacture. 

5.  The  starch  resembles  in  its  physical  properties  the  starch  of 
Maize  and  can  be  used  as  a substitute  therefore  in  all  cases. 

6.  An  excellent  article  of  tapioca  can  be  prepared  from  the 
starch  of  the  cassava  plant. 

7.  Glucose  can  be  prepared  directly  from  the  starch,  or  more 
profitably  from  the  pulp  of  the  peeled  root. 

8.  The  plant  furnishes  an  excellent  human  and  cattle  food,  de- 
ficient however,  in  nitrogen.  It  would  make  a well  balanced  ration 
for  cattle  when  mixed  with  one-fourth  of  its  weight  of  cotton  seed  oil 
cake. 

One  of  the  most  promising  of  the  new  crops  for  which  the  soil 
and  climate  of  the  Coast  Country  is  shown  to  be  adapted  is  canaigre. 
This  is  a native  plant  of  the  southwestern  territories  and  northern 
Mexico.  It  is  a species  of  wild  rhubarb  and  resembles  that  well- 
known  eastern  plant  in  appearance,  though  very  far  different  in 
quality.  The  element  of  value  in  this  vegetable  is  tannic  acid,  and 
the  demand  for  it  comes  from  the  leather  industry  of  the  world.  Can- 
aigre grows  wild  in  portiqns  of  Arizona,  New  Mexico,  Texas,  Cali- 


36 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS 


fornia  and  Old  Mexico,  and  when  found  in  that  condition  produces  a 
crop  of  three  to  eight  tons  per  acre  once  in  two  years.  But  under 
irrigation  and  proper  cultivation  it  produces  two  crops  each  year 
with  an  annual  yield  of  twenty  tons  per  acre,  according  to  a good 
authority.  When  it  is  stated  that  shipments  thus  far  sold  have 
brought  $65  per  ton  in  Liverpool.  It  is  little  wonder  that  some  farm- 
ers and  land  owners  are  dreaming  of  great  pecuniary  rewards  for  their 
foresight  in  pushing  the  new  crop  into  the  market. 

It  can  be  said  with  absolute  assurance  that  the  commercial  value 
of  canaigre  is  established  beyond  all  question.  It  is  conceded  by  all 


A Coast  Country  Cotton  Gin. 

experts  that  the  quality  of  tanic  acid  extracted  from  the  canaigre  root 
is  far  superior  to  that  obtained  from  any  other  source.  Furthermore 
the  supply  of  hemlock  and  tanbark  oaks  has  constantly  decreased, 
until  of  late  it  has  become  alarmingly  sparse.  Canaigre  seems  t< 
have  come  to  the  front  just  at  the  time  when  it  was  unmistakably 
demanded.  Perhaps  the  most  convincing  endorsement  of  the  com- 
mercial value  of  canaigre  is  the  testimony  of  the  distinguished  Prof. 
Eitner,  head  of  the  Vienna  Research  station  for  the  leather  trade, 
who  examined  it  from  the  standpoint  of  a practical  tanner  and  said  : 
“1  consider  this  article  especially  adapted  for  tanning  uppers,  fine 
saddlery  and  fancy  leathers.  It  can  be  used  alone  or  in  connection 
with  other  materials.”  He  also  recommended  it  for  its  quickness 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


37 


and  thoroughness  in  tanning,  color,  beauty,  consistency  and  pliabil- 
ity. He  also  states  that  the  price  laid  down  in  Vienna — 18  florins  per 
hundred  kilos  (about  $65  per  ton), — is  quite  reasonable.  In  fact  he 
has  everything  to  say  in  its  favor  and  nothing  against  it. 

A good  sandy  loam  with  moderate  cultivation  is  necessary,  but 
equally  large  crops  have  been  produced  on  heavy  soils  where  the 
roots  are  planted  shallow  and  irrigated.  The  tubers  are  planted  in 
rows  30  inches  apart  and  9 inches  apart  in  the  row,  and  require  about 
one  ton  of  roots  per  acre,  from  which  it  is  estimated  that  the  first 
season  a yield  of  10  tons  of  green  roots  may  be  obtained,  and  the 
second  and  succeeding  seasons  1 5 or  even  20  tons. 

In  a wild  state  the  plant  makes  its  growth  during  the  winter  and 
early  spring,  and  by  June  1st  has  seeded  and  the  tops  are  dead.  The 
tubers  lie  dormant  until  the  winter  rains,  when  the  plants  make  their 
appearance  once  more.  A short,  quick  season  of  growth  seems  to  be 
necessary  for  this  plant. 

In  the  Coast  Country  the  time  for  planting  is  September  or  Oc- 
tober and  the  plant  dies  in  June  the  harvest  being  taken  in  the  in- 
termediate time,  so  that  it  does  not  interfere  with  the  regular  crops. 
If  planted  late  in  the  spring,  leaves  will  appear  and  lie  down  at  the 
usual  time,  and  the  root  will  lie  dormant  throughout  the  summer,  be- 
ginning the  formation  of  a new  crop  at  the  regular  season,  with  no 
apparent  advantage  or  disadvantage  as  compared  with  roots  planted 
just  before  growing  season. 

The  time  of  harvesting  begins  after  the  plant  has  made  its  full 
growth,  and  it  has  been  found  that  the  per  cent,  of  tannin  increases 
as  the  tubers  lie  dormant  in  the  ground,  but  the  increase  is  very 
gradual  after  May. 

The  preparation  of  the  land  for  planting  and  the  cultivation  of 
the  crop  are  very  similar  to  the  methods  used  for  Irish  potatoes  or 
other  root  crops.  The  cost  of  cultivating  an  acre  is  estimated  at 
$16  50,  which  includes  the  irrigating  and  harvesting. 

As  prepared  for  market  the  roots  are  sliced  into  pieces  about  one- 
twentieth  to  one-fourth  of  an  inch  thick  and  dried  in  the  sun.  When 
thus  prepared  they  loose  about  two-thirds  their  weight,  and  the  dried 
product  contains  from  20  to  35  per  cent,  tannin.  Another  method  of 
preparation  is  by  the  making  of  an  extract  from  the  roots,  which  con- 
tains from  60  to  65  per  cent  tannin. 

The  supply  of  wild  canaigre  is  rapidly  becoming  exhausted. 
From  January  1st,  1891,  to  October  31,  1892,  there  were  shipped  to 
Europe,  over  the  Southern  Pacific  Railway,  370  car  loads  of  the  sliced 
and  dried  roots  valued  at  $40  to  $65  per  ton. 

Ramie  of  an  unusually  long  and  fine  fibre  can  be  grown.  Mr. 


38 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


Will  iam  H.  Parmenter,  of  New  Orleans,  who  has  made  the  subject 
one  of  special  study,  said  that  four  crops  a year  could  be  taken  off, 
He  said  it  would  cost  $40  an  acre  to  procure  the  roots  for  planting, 
but  they  would  last  a long  time.  There  would  be  four  cuttings  each 
year  yielding  a total  of  63  tons,  making  about  $96  or  $ 100  to  the  acre. 
The  climate  and  soil  of  the  Coast  Country  are  ideal  for  its  growth. 
The  frost  touches  the  stem  or  plant  but  not  the  roots,  which  produce 
as  if  not  touched.  There  is  a demand  for  the  plants  product  over  the 
whole  country.  It  is  not  limited  to  any  part  of  the  world. 

It  would  pay  the  farmers  from  $40  to  $100  an  acre  per  annum. 
To  every  1,000  acres  a four  thousand  spindle  factory  can  be  advan- 
tageously established  and  operated.  Thus  the  farmer  finds  a market 
for  his  product,  the  factory  material  to  work  on  and  the  laborers 
something  to  do. 

The  finest  fiber  in  the  world  is  produced  in  Mississippi,  Louisiana 
and  Texas.  The  moist  climate  suits  the  ramie.  No  insect  or  worm 
has  ever  been  known  to  trouble  it.  It  is  no  more  taxing  on  the  soil 
than  cotton.  In  case  the  farmer  wants  to  get  rid  of  the  roots  it  can 
easily  be  ploughed. 

That  tobacco  of  a superior  quality,  equal  in  some  notable  in- 
stances to  the  products  of  Cuban  fields,  can  be  raised  in  the  Coast 
Country,  is  an  assured  fact.  Mr.  E.  L.  Dunlap,  of  Victoria,  showed 
the  writer  some  samples  of  tobacco  which  he  had  raised,  and  which 
experts  were  unable  to  tell  from  Havana  leaf  submitted  at  the  same 
time.  At  the  beginning  of  the  year  Mr.  Dunlap  secured  some  seed 
from  Havana  and  he  took  off  three  crops  in  1895  from  the  one  plant- 
ing. The  average  of  the  first  two  crops  was  from  1,500  to  2,000 
pounds  per  acre,  and  at  prevailing  prices  it  was  worth  45  cents  per 
pound. 

The  idea  that  tobacco  grown  here  is  not  so  strong  and  well 
flavored  as  that  from  elsewhere  is  a mistake,  because  when  properly 
handled  and  cured  it  has  both  strength  and  flavor.  Texas  tobacco  is 
like  all  other  kinds.  It  must  go  through  sweats  and  other  curing  pro- 
cesses to  bring  out  its  qualities,  but  its  qualities,  when  brought  out,  are 
perfect  and  will  sell  anywhere.  In  East  Texas  and  along  the  coast 
of  Texas  tobacco  should  be  cultivated  extensively  and  with  big  profit. 

O.  A.  Smith,  a reliable  resident  of  Montgomery  County,  writes: 
“ Tobacco  culture  here  is  a success  beyond  a doubt.  It  has  been 
grown  here  for  several  years  past  by  three  or  four  parties.  Up  to 
this  year,  though,  we  have  only  had  a small  per  cent,  of  the  crop 
wrappers  on  account  of  worms.  This  year  all  the  tobacco  growers 
use  trained  turkeys  and  they  do  away  with  hand  worming  entirely. 
The  crop  this  year  is  absolutely  clear  of  worm  holes  and  40  to  50  per 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


39 


cent,  of  the  crop  will  be  wrappers,  the  rest  good  fillers.  Last  year’s 
crop  was  sold  in  Chicago  at  35  cents  per  pound.  We  were  after- 
ward offered  42 F cents  per  pound  for  it  in  New  York.  Everyone  we 
sent  samples  to  pronounced  it  superior  to  Florida  tobacco  in  flavor.” 

There  is  no  danger  in  losing  money  in  any  of  the  varieties.  If 
the  Burley,  or  Pryor  or  any  of  the  large  and  heavy  varieties  are 
planted,  the  great  number  of  pounds  which  they  produce  to  the  acre 
will  more  than  cover  all  expenses  in  raising  and  marketing.  If  the 
finer  fibered  varieties  be  planted,  such  as  Connecticut,  Cuban  or  Su- 
matra, the  high  price  they  command  will  more  than  make  up  for  the 
smaller  number  of  pounds  per  acre. 

Rice  is  one  of  the  most  profitable  of  the  Coast  Country  crops. 
Its  cultivation  is  identical  with  that  of  wheat,  with  the  exception  of 
the  flooding  of  the  fields,  a simple  and  not  expensive  requisite.  The 
sandy  loam  so  generally  found  in  the  Coast  Country  raises  great  rice 
crops.  It  is  harvested  as  is  wheat,  the  same  machinery  being 
used.  Improved  machinery  for  ditching  purposes  is  within  easy 
reach  and  can  be  had  under  contract  at  a reasonable  outlay,  with  a 
charge  of  so  much  per  yard  for  ditching  and  making  levees. 

The  most  remarkable  fact  in  connection  with  the  culture  of  rice 
and  wheat  is  the  price  of  lands  on  which  the  crops  are  grown. 
Wheat  lands  from  $40  to  $100  an  acre;  rice  lands  $3.00  to  $5.00;  the 
former  crop  yielding  $8.00  to  ^15.00  an  acre,  the  latter  $30.00  to 
$50,00  an  acre.  In  southeast  Louisiana,  where  the  crop  is  universally 
cultivated  these  same  lands  sell  at  from  $10.00  to  $40.00  an  acre. 
In  the  Coast  Country  of  Texas  they  are  still  to  be  had  at  an  average 
price  of  $5.00. 

In  speaking  of  profits  derived  from  rice  culture,  it  would  be  im- 
possible in  an  article  of  this  kind  to  convince  the  reader  of  the  small 
outlay  of  money  and  labor  necessary  in  the  cultivation  of  rice,  but  if 
the  reader  is  interested  and  will  take  the  trouble  to  investigate,  he 
will  discover  that  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  market  price  of  rice  is 
clear  profit  to  the  farmer. 

For  ten  years  past  the  average  price  of  rice  in  the  market  has 
been  three  dollars  per  barrel.  The  crop  runs  from  eight  to  sixteen 
barrels  per  acre  and  for  purposes  of  brief  illustration  we  can  take 
12  barrels  as  a conservative  estimate.  One  acre  at  $3.00  per  bar- 
rel is  $36.00,  100  acres  would  be  $3,600,  less  expenses,  which  vary 
from  $8.00  to  $12.00,  and  to  be  safe  take  $10.00  per  acre  or  $1,000 
to  the  100  acres.  The  price  quoted  represents  the  New  Orleans 
market,  consequently  the  freight,  36  cents  per  barrel,  is  to  come  out, 
or  $4.32  per  acre  which  is  $432.00  on  100  acres.  Thus  we  find  the 
total  expenses  $1,432.00,  to  be  deducted  from  $3,600.00,  which  gives 


40 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


a net  profit  of  $2,168.00  off  of  100  acres.  These  profit  figures  can 
be  considerably  reduced  and  still  greatly  exceed  any  other  crop 
grown. 

Early  last  spring  Mr.  C.  C.  Gibbs,  Land  Commissioner  of  the 
Southern  Pacific  at  San  Antonio,  who  has  done  much  to  bring  the  re- 
sources of  Texas  to  the  notice  of  prospective  settlers,  and  who  for 
years  has  been  indefatigable  in  investigating  every  point  that  could 
promote  the  interest  of  the  home  seeker,  sent  outacircular  of  inquiry 
to  farmers  in  Liberty  and  Chambers  counties  particularly  to  elicit  in- 
formation respecting  the  degree  of  success  attained  in  the  cultivation 
of  rice.  The  circular  letter  was  as  follows: 

“Will  you  kindly  write  stating  where  you  moved  from,  and 
when  did  you  buy  your  land,  about  what  time  you  began  breaking  it, 
and  when  did  you  commence  to  plant?  What  kind  of  soil  is  your 
land?  How  many  acres  are  you  cultivating  and  what  kind  of  crops 
are  you  growing?  State  as  near  as  you  can  about  what  the  yield 
per  acre  will  be,  conditions  favorable  to  harvest  time.  If  you  have 
done  any  ditching  or  made  levees  for  rice.  What  has  been  the  cost? 
Any  other  information  not  called  for  in  this  letter  will  be  appreci- 
ated.” 

Among  the  replies  received,  all  dated  April  or  July  1895,  we 
quote  the  following: 

Raywood,  Liberty  County,  Texas 

We  came  to  Liberty  County  from  McPherson  County,  Kansas, 
the  fall  of  1893.  The  climate  here  is  not  as  cold  in  winter  or  as 
warm  in  summer  as  there.  We  are  farming  rice  exclusively.  Our 
rice  averaged  fifty  bushels  per  acre  last  year.  What  I have  seen  of 
pears,  peaches,  plums  and  grapes  1 am  convinced  in  a few  years  one 
can  have  all  they  want.  We  grow  garden  vegetables  almost  the 
year  round.  We  use  well  water  at  twenty  two  feet  and  it  is  good. 

L.  W.  Welch. 

Devers,  Liberty  County,  Texas. 

Planted  eighty  acres  of  rice  on  new  land.  Cost  of  ditching  and 
leveling  $75.00  Rainfall  sufficient  without  irrigation.  Planted  in 
March  and  April  and  sowed  by  hand.  Sowed  G bushels  per  acre. 
Crop  is  good  and  will  average  12L  barrels  per  acre. 

W.  A.  ABSHIER. 

Devers,  Liberty,  County,  Texas. 

We  bought  this  section  in  December  last  and  commenced  to  plow 
about  March  1st.  The  soil  is  what  we  call  a deep  black  soil,  with 
some  sand,  what  the  people  in  this  neighborhood  call  a sandy  marsh, 
and  it  is  very  easily  worked.  We  have  100  acres  broke  and  com- 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


41 


menced  to  sow  about  the  10th  of  May.  Eighty  acres,  which  we  put 
in  first,  is  all  covered  with  water  ten  to  twelve  inches  and  stands  hip 
high  and  very  thick  and  what  old  rice  growers  say  looks  extra  fine. 
This  being  our  first  year  we  are  unable  to  make  an  estimate.  The 
other  twenty  acres  were  not  planted  until  June  28th,  and  is  five  or  six 
inches  high  Our  ditches  and  levees  cost  us  in  the  neighborhood  of 
$125  00.  We  are  from  Iowa. 

Blirdett  Brothers. 

Dayton,  Liberty  County,  Texas. 

I am  a native  of  Canada  but  came  here  from  Wisconsin  May  1st, 
1891,  and  located  on  this  farm  January  1st,  1893.  I like  the  climate, 
it  is  not  to  be  compared  to  any  part  of  the  north.  My  chief  i_rop  has 
been  rice,  of  which  I have  made  a great  success,  it  paying  about 
$45.00  per  acre  with  same  expense  as  wheat  or  oats,  and  is  sowed 
either  broadcast  or  with  a drill  and  cut  with  a self  binder  and  thresh- 
ed with  a separator.  In  this  state  it  is  ready  for  the  market,  but  I 
go  still  further  and  mill  it  ready  for  the  merchant,  which  is  still  more 
profitable.  We  have  now  800  acres  under  the  plow.  Corn  does  fine, 
also  millet,  which  makes  two  tons  per  acres  and  two  crops  per  year. 
My  pears,  peaches,  plums,  apricots  and  figs  are  doing  fine.  A great 
many  northern  people  are  settling  around  me.  I am  also  starting  to 
raise  ramie,  and  which  the  lowest  estimate  promises  $80.00  per  acre, 
and  when  once  planted  is  there  forever. 

R.  A.  KlERPSTEAi). 

Turtle  Bayou,  Chambers  County,  Texas. 

Yours  relating  to  the  productions  of  this  county  and  other  matters 
of  special  interest  to  emigrants  just  received.  In  reply  have  to  state 
that  I am  not  able  to  give  any  answer,  from  the  fact  that  I did  not 
move  out  here  till  August  1st  last,  consequently  have  raised  no  crop 
except  a few  Irish  potatoes  last  fall  Set  out  strawberries  December 
24th,  1894.  Commenced  eating  the  berries  in  March  1895.  Broke 
the  turf  for  garden  December  1894,  and  since  March  25th,  have  had 
plenty  of  garden  truck  and  during  April  have  been  enjoying  new  Irish 
potatoes  and  peas.  Every  thing  in  garden  is  doing  fine.  Have  some 
field  corn  two  feet  tall. 

A.  G.  Robb. 
Perryman,  Texas. 

We  arrived  here  December  28th,  1894.  Am  farming  fourteen 
miles  north  of  Liberty  and  our  crop  consists  principally  of  corn  and 
cotton.  My  corn  was  planted  about  the  12th  of  March  and  in  the 
drill  with  northern  seed  corn,  and  the  average  height  is  about  ten 


42 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS 


feet.  1 estimate  the  yield  at  thirty  to  thirty-five  bushels  per  acre. 
Corn  cut  short  one-fourth  by  excessive  rain.  My  cotton  bids  fair  to 
yield  half  to  three-quarters  of  a bale  per  acre.  This  land  has  been 
in  constant  cultivation  since  i860.  Soil  is  a gray,  sandy,  easily 
worked. 


jAAtES  H.  Rankins. 


An  Eight  Year  Old  Pear  Tree 


Liberty,  Texas. 

We  have  280  acres  of  rice  on  new  land;  all  broke  in  the  last  nine 
months.  Began  planting  in  April  and  finished  the  last  of  May  Our 
land  is  heavy  black  land.  We  have  two  4 inch  artesian  wells  at  a 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


43 


depth  of  267  feet  and  they  flow  600,000  gallons  every  twenty-four 
hours.  We  are  satisfied  this  class  of  water  will  answer  all  purposes) 
but  our  supply  is  insufficient  for  the  acreage.  We  contemplate  sinking 
additional  wells  for  next  year’s  crop.  The  yield  in  some  portions  of 
our  field  will  run,  estimated  fifteen  barrels  per  acre,  and  in  other 
places  much  less  on  account  of  shortage  in  the  water  supply.  Our 
ditching  and  levees  cost  about  $2.00  per  acre. 

Neyland  and  Douglass. 

Devers,  Liberty  County,  Texas. 

I have  about  500  acres  in  rice.  This  is  the  second  yedr  for  170 
acres;  the  balance  in  new  land.  Commenced  plowing  about  March 
1st,  began  sowing  9th  of  April  and  finished  27th  of  May.  Sowed 
with  a broadcast  seeder.  In  Louisiana  we  aim  to  put  one  bushel  per 
acre,  but  1 sowed  thicker  here,  as  I was  told  rains  did  not  set  in  as 
early  and  some  would  die  out.  The  ditching  was  partly  done  when 
we  came  on  the  farm.  I think  for  the  uses  of  ditches  alone  cost  five 
cents  per  rod  for  single  ditch  and  ten  cents  for  double  ditch.  1 pre- 
sume you  want  to  know  the  cost  of  levees.  With  a Burton  road  grad- 
er and  ten  pairs  of  good  oxen  and  three  men  you  can  put  up  from  half 
to  three  quarters  of  a mile  per  day  and  under  favorable  circum- 
stances a mile  can  be  graded.  This  has  been  a very  favorable  year 
for  rice  culture  so  far.  The  plant  stands  four  feet  high  and  very 
thick  on  the  ground.  Our  earliest  sowing  will  be  ready  to  cut  the 
last  of  August.  All  things  remaining  favorable,  think  we  are  safe  in 
expecting  twelve  to  fifteen  barrels  per  acre.  We  have  marsh  land, 
and  it  is  black,  tough  and  sticky.  I do  not  know  of  any  reason  why 
rice  will  not  grow  in  Texas  as  well  as  Louisiana.  There  is  not  as 
much  rice  land  in  Texas  as  in  Louisiana  and  not  as  much  danger  of 
being  cut  off  from  water  supply  and  drainage,  as  one  is  as  essential 
as  the  other.  1 came  from  Kentucky  to  Louisiana  six  years  ago  and 
to  this  county  this  year. 

George  T.  B.  Hamilton. 

Rice  was  not  experimented  with  in  the  eastern  counties  of  the 
coast  country  until  about  four  years  ago.  Indeed  it  has  only  been 
seven  or  eight  years  since  the  staple  began  to  grow  commercially  in 
southwest  Louisiana  which  is  now  the  greatest  center  of  production. 
The  value  of  the  crop  and  the  success  obtained  by  their  neighbors  in 
Louisiana,  induced  the  farmers  in  Jefferson  County  to  give  rice  a 
trial  four  years  ago,  and  the  results  were  of  such  a satisfactory  na- 
ture that  in  1892  the  acreage  was  largely  increased  and  the  number 
of  rice  farms  opened  quadrupled.  In  1892  the  total  number  of  acres 
planted  in  that  county  in  rice  was  about  2;oo,  with  the  result  of  an 


44 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


average  yield  per  acre  of  fifteen  barrels,  the  market  price  of  which 
ranged  from  $2.00  to  $4.00  per  barrel.  This  is  a crop  especially 
suited  to  the  lands  of  the  county,  and  as  these  lands  can  be  bought  at 
from  $5.00  to  $10.00  per  acre  the  home  seeker  will  at  once  perceive 
the  advantage. 

Until  1892  rice  was  exclusively  an  experimental  crop  in  Jeffer- 
son, and  the  methods  of  cultivation  were  crude  and  imperfect,  but 
even  under  these  circumstances  the  yield  was  so  bountiful  that  in  the 
year  mentioned  a few  farmers  ventured  to  plant  it  for  profit,  and  the 
results  were  so  satisfactory  that  in  1893  there  were  2845  acres  put  in 
cultivation.  The  yield  averaged  fifteen  barrels  to  the  acre,  and  was 
marketed  at  $2. 50  per  barrel,  the  gross  value  of  the  crop  being  in  the 
neighborhood  of  $100,000.  It  might  be  well  to  say  here  that  $2.50 
per  barrel  is  an  unreasonably  low  price  for  rice,  but  the  profits  that 
accrued  to  the  farmers  even  at  that  price,  were  so  satisfactory  that 
last  year  — 1894 — the  acreage  was  more  than  doubled.  The  season 
of  1894  was  not  at  all  favorable  for  rice  growing,  there  being  insuffi- 
cient rain  when  the  plant  was  most  in  need  of  its  peculiar  nourishment 
but  this  is  a disaster  that  can  be  averted  by  proper  irrigation,  and 
the  farmers  are  taking  this  precaution,  as  it  is  comparatively  inex- 
pensive, owing  to  the  numerous  rivers,  bayous  and  lakes  whose  wa- 
ters are  easily  obtained.  The  yield  for  1894  is,  of  course,  not  so  large 
per  acre  as  that  of  1893,  but  the  increase  in  price  will  make  profits 
to  the  farmer  somewhat  larger. 

As  shown  by  an  official  table,  the  acreage  in  1894  was  5126, 
the  yield  was  not  less  than  eight  and  one-half  barrels  to  the  acre, 
which  put  the  total  crop  at  43,571  barrels.  The  prevailing  market 
price  was  $3.50  to  $4.50  per  barrel,  which  would  place  the  gross 
value  of  Jefferson  County’s  crop  in  the  neighborhood  of  $175,000, 
which  is  four  times  greater  than  the  aggregate  sum  derived  from  the 
sale  of  cattle  from  the  county  ranches  that  year,  and  it  is  a figure 
which,  when  the  acreage  is  considered,  makes  rice  the  most  profit- 
able product  of  Texas  soil,  aside  from  the  growing  of  vegetables 
and  fruit. 

No  more  favorable  conditions  exist  for  the  successful  growing  of 
fine  stock  of  all  kinds  than  are  to  be  found  in  the  Coast  Country.  The 
winters  being  winters  in  name  only,  the  stock  grower  does  not  labor 
six  months  in  the  year  to  raise  feed  with  which  to  “carry  his  stock 
through’’  the  other  six.  Alfalfa  and  many  of  the  tame  grasses  have 
been  successfully  grown  here  for  years,  but  only  as  an  experiment  or 
in  limited  quantities,  the  vast  acres  of  unfilled  lands  covered  with 
rich  growths  of  natural  grass  serving  to  pasture  native  stock  through 
the  year.  But  with  the  settlement  of  the  country  there  is  a constant 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


45 


and  growing  demand  for  a better  class  of  stock  all  over  the  state,  and 
full  bloods  of  any  breeds  are  scarce.  With  the  war  being  waged  on 
the  long-horned  cow,  razor-back  hog  and  mustang  pony,  the  better 
breeds  are  gaining  a lasting  victory. 

The  profits  of  stock  raising  are  best  illustrated  by  example. 
Pasturage  on  large  tracts  is  ordinarily  figured  on  the  basis  of  1 5 cents 
an  acre.  Cows  this  fall  were  worth  $14.00;  4 year  old  steers  $25.00. 
It  costs  from  $6.00  to  $6.25  to  ship  a ioco  pound  steer  to  the  Chicago 
market,  where  it  brings  three  and  a half  cents  per  pound  on  the  hoof. 
In  figuring  the  profit  of  stock  raising  the  residents  usually  estimate  a 
cowat$io.co;  the  interest  on  the  four  acres  it  requires  to  pasture 
her  (ten  per  cent  on  a valuation  of  $6.co  per  acre)  at  $2.40.  Total 
cost  of  cowand  pasture  $12.40;  increase  one  calf  which  sells  for  $5.00 
with  the  cow  left. 

Dairying  and  poultry  raising  are  destined  to  become  leading  pur- 
suits, and  so  long  as  broilers  find  ready  sale  in  such  close  markets  as 
Houston  and  Galveston  at  from  forty  to  sixty  cents  apiece,  milk  ten 
cents  per  quart  and  butter  forty  cents  per  pound,  so  long  will  the 
profits  continue  enormous. 

Next  in  importance  to  the  cotton  crop  is  the  successful  and  prof- 
itable management  of  a general  farm  in  the  Coast  Country  is  a crop  of 
corn.  This  cereal  with  good  cultivation  may  be  depended  upon  for 
from  forty  to  seventy-five  bushels  to  the  acre,  and  as  this  is  natural- 
ly a hog  country,  the  intelligent  breeder  of  a better  class  of  porkers 
finds  here  ample  scope  for  this  industry,  and  profitable  remuneration 
for  his  labor.  Corn  in  the  lower  coast  region  can  be  and  often  is, 
planted  in  the  middle  of  January  and  if  frost  killed  it  the  farmer  still 
had  plenty  of  time  to  replant  and  still  raise  two  crops  on  the  ground. 
Hogs  are  fed  through  the  summer  on  sorghum  cut  green,  the  crop  be- 
ing cut  over  two  or  three  times,  and  in  the  fall  are  fattened  on 
corn. 

A Velasco  correspondent  of  the  “Houston  Post’’  recently  said: 

“First  years’’ sod  prairie  land  in  Texas  is  not  considered  good  for 
corn,  but  yesterday  Mr.  Bernard  Karl  finished  gathering  3142  bushels 
from  fifty-five  acres  near  Velasco,  that  up  to  last  February  had  al- 
ways been  an  open  range.  In  February  he  broke  the  turf  two  inches 
deep,  cross  broke  it  four  to  five  inches  deep,  harrowed  it  and  after 
bedding  with  a cultivator  planted  a late  March  crop  and  cultivated 
shallow  and  often.  The  yield  and  field  were  carefully  measured, 
making  over  57  bushels  to  the  acre. 

The  Gulf  Coast  Country  of  Texas  is  not  adapted  to  the  growing 
of  wheat,  though  wheat,  barley  and  rye  in  most  parts  of  the  middle 
coast  country  will  make  a fair  crop  three  years  out  of  four,  but 


46 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS 


oats  is  a prolific  crop  and  heavy  yields  are  often  reported.  Twenty- 
four  bushels  is  an  average  yield  per  acre  and  the  average  price  per 


n 

d 

o 

O 


d 


d 

'd 

s> 

si 

d 

O 

5 

o 

o 

si 

H 


bushel  twenty-two  cents,  Frequently  yields  of  seventy-five,  eighty 
and  even  ninety  bushels  have  been  reported. 


CITIES  AND  TOWNS  OF  THE  GULF  COAST. 


There  is  an  admirable  distribution  of  thrifty  towns  all  through 
the  Coast  country,  affording  both  local  markets,  admirable  society 
and  facilities  for  cultivation,  while  in  the  very  center  of  the  region, 
connected  with  all  its  parts  by  rail  and  water  lines,  are  the  growing 
cities  of  Houston  and  Galveston,  affording  every  luxury  and  advan- 
tage of  large  urban  population.  It  is  only  necessary  to  refer  in  brief 
to  the  two  great  industrial  and  trade  centers,  for  information  relative 
to  them  is  easily  within  reach  of  anyone  desiring  to  investigate  the 
subject  more  fully. 

Eleven  trunk  lines  of  railroad  enter  Houston,  affording  ample 
means  for  traffic  with  half  of  the  vast  area  between  the  Mississippi 
River  and  the  Pacific  Coast.  The  roads  actually  centering  here  have  a 
mileage  of  9,000  miles,  and  the  connecting  systems  a mileage  of  31,- 
000.  The  city  has  a population  of  sixty  thousand,  estimated,  who 
have  prospered  not  alone  because  the  city  has  become  both  a great 
railway  and  a vast  manufacturing  center,  but  because  it  is  also  at  the 
head  of  tide-water  navigation  on  Buffalo  Bayou,  with  ship  channel 
navigation  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  through  which  is  carried  about 
500,000  bales  of  cotton  annually.  The  city  was  founded  in  1837  It 
has  a healthful  and  enjoyable  sub-tropical  climate;  mean  summer  tem- 
perature of  ninety  degrees,  an  average  winter  temperature  of  sixty 
degrees;  sweet,  pure  and  soft  artesian  water;  a low  death  rate— only 
nine  to  the  thousand;  thirty  miles  of  paved  streets  — vitrified  brick, 
stone  and  wood;  no  stagnant  water,  and  an  admirable  sewerage  sys- 
tem; handsome  public  and  business  buildings,  and  many  beautiful 
private  residences;  the  finest  electric  street  railway  system  in  the 
South;  a taxable  valuation  of  $17,000,000,  the  rate  being  $2  per 
$100;  a high  school  and  twelve  public  schools  for  seven  thousand 
children. 

Galveston  is  built  on  the  extreme  east  end  of  the  island  of  the 
same  name  just  off  the  coast.  It  has  a population  of  about  50,000. 
The  finest  land-locked  harbor  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  has  given  Gal- 
veston an  immense  carrying  trade.  Here  come  ships  from  European 
and  South  American  ports  to  carry  away  our  cotton,  corn  and  wheat 
in  exchange  for  money  or  foreign  commodities. 

A few  years  ago  the  great  West  awoke  to  the  fact  that  it  was 
linked  to  a deep-water  port  several  hundred  miles  nearer  the  interior 
than  is  New  York  City  The  United  States  Government  appropri- 
ated $6,200,000  to  secure  a channel  of  sufficient  depth  across  the  bar 


48 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


at  the  entrance  of  the  bay,  and  now  there  is  sixteen  to  seventeen  feet 
of  water  at  mean  low  tide,  which  will  be  increased  to  accommodate 
any  craft  that  floats.  Jetty  construction  was  commenced  in  1885,  but 
work  was  not  actively  pushed  until  1890.  The  south  jetty  is  six 
miles  long,  and  the  north  arm  has  been  extended  two  miles.  During 
the  five  months  ending  January  31,  1893,  there  arrived  at  Galveston 
194  steamships,  with  capacity  of  321,000  tons,  and  manned  by  5,500 
sailors;  also  55  sailing  vessels,  of  25,000  tons,  and  carrying  420  men 
— not  including  the  small  local  craft.  The  clearances  were  nearly  as 
many.  In  other  words,  the  vessels  regularly  touching  at  Galveston 
can  accommodate  five  thousand  cars  in  and  out  monthly.  Three 
miles  of  completed  wharves  on  the  bay  front,  with  room  for  more, 
amply  accommodate  existing  traffic.  Immense  grain  elevators  have 
been  erected,  one  of  which  can  load  four  ships  at  once. 

Turning  now  for  a brief  glance  at  the  lesser  commercial  centers 
of  the  coast  region,  we  find  how  admirably  located  they  are  to  serve 
the  purposes  of  their  respective  communities.  We  do  not  speak  of 
them  as  less  important  than  the  large  cities.  Within  the  sphere  of 
their  influence  they  are  every  whit  as  important  ■ — more  so,  in  fact, 
because  they  establish  the  home  market  needful  to  the  farmer’s  pros- 
perity. Their  condition  of  substantial  prosperity  is  an  index  to  the 
character  of  the  people  and  to  the  productive  wealth  of  the  region 
they  serve.  In  fact,  we  will  find  nowhere  more  pleasant  or  active 
towns  cr  finer  public  buildings.  We  can  only  glance  hastily  at  a few 
of  the  more  notable. 

Beginning  with  the  eastern  border  of  the  coast  country,  we 
have,  upon  the  banks  of  the  Sabine  River,  the  town  of  Orange,  coun- 
ty seat  of  Orange  County,  256  miles  west  of  New  Orleans,  at  the 
head  of  tide-water  navigation,  communicating  through  Sabine  Pass 
with  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  eighteen  miles  south,  and  on  the  Southern 
Pacific  railroad.  The  present  population,  six  thousand,  is  increasing 
rapidly,  especially  in  the  country,  ow'ing  to  the  influx  of  people  from 
the  Northern  and  Western  States,  taking  advantage  of  the  large  body 
of  land  so  excellently  adapted  to  rice  culture,  cotton,  vegetables, 
fruit  and  diversified  farming. 

Orange  is  the  principal  lumber  manufacturing  center  of  the 
Southwest,  having  five  saw  mills,  five  planing  mills,  three  shingle 
and  stave  mills,  producing  annually  250,00x3,000  feet  of  lumber  and 
1 35,000,000  shingles.  These  mammoth  concerns  employ  thousands 
of  men  in  the  mills.  The  success  that  has  attended  rice  culture  in 
the  county  is  attracting  widespread  attention,  and  the  acreage  is  al- 
most doubling  yearly.  Four  years  ago  there  was  not  an  acre  of  rice 
in  Orange  County.  This  year  2, 163  acres  were  planted.  Although 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS 


49 


this  land  was  not  properly  cultivated,  the  crop  was  beyond  expecta- 
tion, yielding  eight  to  ten  barrels  per  acre,  and  netting  the  lucky 
farmers  about  $63,900.  This  has  stimulated  agricultural  industry. 
Rice  can  be  raised  in  Orange  County  without  irrigation.  Cotton, 
corn,  wheat  oats  and  barley  yield  in  abundance.  Vegetables  of  every 
variety  yield  three  crops  a year.  Oranges,  peaches,  pears,  figs  and 
berries  are  the  principal  fruit  products  of  the  county. 

The  mercantile  and  manufacturing  industries  of  Orange  do  a bus- 
iness of  $5,000,000  annually. 

The  climate  of  Orange  is  healthful,  equable  and  pleasant.  It  is 
so  thoroughly  drained  by  the  Sabine  and  Neches  Rivers,  and  living 
streams  flowing  through  the  country  into  them,  that  the  natural  causes 
of  sickness  are  reduced  to  a minimum.  The  death  rate  is  only  about 
fifteen  in  a thousand,  and  physicians  report  that  sickness  in  the  ma- 
jority of  cases  is  attributable  to  individual  carelessness  and  exposure 
which  in  many  climates  would  kill.  Winter  exists  only  in  name.  It 
is  like  April  and  May  in  the  Western  and  Northern  States.  The  ther- 
mometer, tempered  by  the  Gulf  breeze  and  evenly  distributed  rains, 
ranges  between  60  and  90  degrees  during  summer.  The  site  of  the 
city  is  high,  and  so  perfectly  drained  that  the  streets  are  dry  within 
six  hours  after  the  heaviest  rains. 

The  natural  advantages  of  Orange  have  recently  attracted  na- 
tional attention,  and  the  work  now  in  progress  at  Sabine  Pass,  upon 
which  an  appropriation  of  $275,000  is  being  expended,  is  only  a step 
toward  the  dredging  of  Sabine  Lake  so  as  to  admit  of  the  passage  of 
steamers  of  the  deepest  draught  from  the  Gulf  to  Orange.  The  Sa- 
bine River  sounds  thirty  to  fifty-six  feet  between  Orange  and  Sabine 
Lake  (a  fact  that  is  not  generally  known  ),  and  the  dredging  of  the 
lake,  which  is  only  a question  of  a short  time,  will  make  Orange  the 
only  freshwater  harbor  in  the  Southwest.  A shipyard  has  already 
been  started  in  anticipation  of  this,  several  new  railroads  have  been 
incorporated,  and  the  Orange  Board  of  Trade  is  daily  receiving  in- 
quiries from  Eastern  and  Western  manufacturers  who  contemplate 
availing  themselves  of  the  hitherto  comparatively  unknown  resources 
from  which  so  many  fortunes  have  been  amassed. 

Beaumont,  twenty-one  miles  farther  west  on  the  Southern  Pa- 
cific Railway,  and  at  the  head  of  tidewater  on  the  Neuces  River,  has 
large  and  varied  manufacturing  interests,  including  three  large  saw 
mills  and  shingle  mills,  making  over  60,000,000  feet  of  lumber  and 
150,000,000  shingles;  an  improved  brickmaking  plant  with  a capaci- 
ty of  40,000  bricks  and  terra  cotta  work;  rice  mill  with  a capacity  of 
30,000  barrels;  furniture  factory,  ice  works,  bottling  works,  water 
works  and  electric  light  plant,  pine  stave  factory,  stave  yards,  foun- 


50 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS- 


dry  and  machine  shop,  four  hotels,  three  newspapers,  fifty  business 
houses  doing  a business  of  over  one  million  dollars  a year.  Has  five 
schools,  seven  churches  of  different  denominations.  It  is  a railroad 
center,  with  the  Texas  & N.  O.,  Sabine  and  East  Texas  and  Beau- 
mont and  Kansas  City  railroads.  Agricultural  products  are  rice  and 
general  farm  products,,  oats,  sugar  cane  and  corn. Ships  annually  over 
two  hundred  million  feet  of  lumber  and  twenty  thousand  sacks  <>f 
rice.  Rice  is  a new  venture  in  this  section,  and  great  results  have 
been  obtained  by  those  who  have  planted  this  cereal.  W.  A.  Ward, 
a northern  man,  who  has  made  a marked  success  in  agriculture  near 
Beaumont,  in  an  open  letter,  which  applies  to  all  the  region  between 
the  Sabine  and  Houston,  says: 

“Lands  are  still  very  cheap — cheaper  and  on  better  terms  than 
Uncle  Sam  offers — ranging  in  price  from  §2.00  to  $10.00  per  aciv, 
and  my  advice  to  friends  is  to  secure  land  soon,  if  you  expect  it  at 
present  prices.  You  ask  what  these  lands  will  produce?  1 answer 
almost  everything  that  grows  except  wheat  and  apples.  In  the  place 
of  the  former  we  grow  rice  as  the  great  cereal,  which  yields  about 
twice  as  much  per  acre  and  brings  about  twice  as  much  per  bushel 
and  can  be  grown  as  cheaply  as  wheat.  Sugar  cane  is  also  very 
profitable.  Crops  of  either  bring  $50.00  per  acre,  while  it  is  difficult 
to  compute  the  income  from  an  orchard  of  pear  trees.  At  the  age  of 
eight  years  each  tree  yields  about  $25.00,  and  they  increase  for 
many  years. 

“Farm  work  can  be  carried  on  here  the  year  round,  and  two 
crops  of  many  things  can  be  produced  each  year.  The  summers  are 
long  and  warm,  but  not  so  excessively  hot  as  north.  Men  work 
every  day  in  the  fields  and  in  the  mill  yards  exposed  to  the  sun,  and 
sun-stroke  is  not  known  here. 

“The  temperature  is  more  even  and  seldom  as  high  as  96,  and 
never  so  high  as  north  during  some  of  its  “heated  terms.”  My  ow; 
work  has  been  in  doors  largely,  but  others  who  came  south  last  win- 
ter and  spring  have  worked  in  the  open  fields  every  day  this  sum- 
mer, and  have  done  more  work  than  they  were  able  to  do  north — 
their  health  being  better  here.  My  experience  and  observation  is 
that  northern  men  have  no  less  energy  here  than  there. 

“The  change  of  climate  usually  proves  beneficial  to  those  afflict- 
ed with  catarrh,  lung  or  bowel  trouble,  also  to  dyspeptics,  but  is  not 
so  good  for  those  inclined  to  biliousness.  Bilious  or  malarial  fever 
is  the  most  common  complaint  here,  but  not  so  common  or  fatal  as  is 
typhoid  fever  north. 

“If  you  come  south  the  people  of  Southeast  Texas  will  treat  you 
well  and  be  glad  to  see  you;  you  will  find  good  schools  and  plenty  of 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS 


51 


churches.  My  advice  to  all  is  to. come  first  to  see  how  you  like  it, 
prepared  to  stay  long  enough  to  get  acquainted.  If  you  cannot  do 
this,  bring  only  such  stock  as  you  can  care  for  and  feed,  in  part  until 
they  become  acclimated.  Bring  everything  else  you  can.  Remem- 
ber you  are  coming  to  a new  country,  so  far  as  farming  is  concern- 
ed.” 

Wharton,  the  county  seat  of  Wharton  County,  is  61  miles 
southwest  of  Houston,  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Colorado,  and  occu- 
pies a beautiful  rise  of  ground  some  forty  feet  above  low  water  in  the 
river.  The  town  was  laid  out  in  1846,  but  its  growth  was  slow  until 
the  advent  of  the  New  York,  Texas  and  Mexican  Railroad  in  1882. 
This  advent  at  once  brought  the  place  into  prominence  as  the  princi- 
pal business  and  shipping  point  not  only  for  Wharton,  but  for  Mata- 
gorda county  to  the  south  of  it  as  well.  The  present  population  is 
about  1700  and  that  of  the  county  10,000.  The  public  square  is 
adorned  with  a substantial  brick  court  house  three  stories  in  height. 

'Situated  in  one  of  the  most  fertile  and  productive  counties  of  the 
state,  possessing  admirable  railroad  facilities,  with  a climate  at  once 
equable  and  healthy,  the  natural  trading  center  for  a locality  far  be- 
yond her  county  limits,  she  has  no  cause  to  apologize  for  either  the 
character  or  goods  of  her  mercantile  establishments,  which  embrace 
full  supplies  in  all  lines.  Cotton  is  her  chief  export,  having  shipped 
some  9,000  bales  this  season.  While  cotton  is  still  considered  the 
main  cash  crop,  diversified  farming,  fruit  growing  and  the  raising  of 
fine  stock  is  rapidly  gaining  in  favor,  and  will  mark  a new  era  in  the 
general  prosperity  of  both  city  and  county. 

Several  cotton  gins  and  a grist  mill  are  kept  busy  here;  a fine 
brickyard  is  nowin  successful  operation,  which  with  the  contemplated 
oil  mill  about  covers  the  extent  of  manufacturing  enterprises  so  far  at 
this  point.  But  with  the  large  bodies  of  valuable  timber  so  close  at 
hand,  and  the  raw  material  accumulating  at  our  very  doors,  oppor- 
tunities can  here  be  obtained  by  the  manufacturer  for  the  site  of 
many  kinds  of  factories  and  shops  superior  to  those  of  larger  cities, 
and  the  people  of  Wharton  are  prepared  to  welcome  any  who  may 
propose  to  make  this  location  the  seat  of  their  operations  and  to  afford 
them  every  assistance  which  is  in  their  power. 

Victoria,  the  capital  of  the  county  of  that  name,  is  one  of  the 
most  sightly  and  progressive  towns  of  the  whole  Coast  Country.  It 
is  one  of  the  wealthiest  towns  of  its  size  in  the  country  and  possesses 
the  most  beautiful  court  house  the  writer  has  ever  seen  in  a country 
town — a model  structure  of  cream  stone,  of  admirable  architecture 
and  finished  throughout  in  native  woods. 

Victoria,  which  is  one  hundred  miles  southwest  from  San  Antonio, 


52 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


An  Orange  Tree  at  BeeviUe. 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  T£XAS. 


53 


160  miles  from  Galveston,  125  southwest  from  Houston,  one  hundred 
miles  from  Aransas  Pass,  and  28  miles  northwest  of  Port  Lavaca,  on 
the  bay,  is  called  the  City  of  Roses.  It  is  situated  on  the  New  York, 
Texas  and  Mexican  Railroad,  connecting  at  Rosenberg,  92  miles  north- 
east, with  the  Gulf,  Colorado  and  Santa  Fe.  and  the  Galveston,  Har- 
risburg and  San  Antonio  (S.  P.  System).  Victoria  is  the  eastern  ter- 
minus of  the  Gulf,  West  Texas  and  Pacific  Railway  (Beeville  exten- 
sion), and  connects  with  the  San  Antonio  and  Aransas  Pass  Railway 
at  Cuero,  28  miles  north,  and  at  Beeville,  55  miles  west,  with  the 
same  road.  Four  graveled  roads  lead  north,  south,  east  and  west 
from  Victoria.  The  soil  of  the  county  is  from  light  sandy  to  blackest 
hog-wallow. 

The  city  is  enjoying  a healthy,  steady  growth,  its  present  pop- 
ulation being  between  six  and  seven  thousand. 

The  streets  are  wide,  kept  in  good  condition,  and  the  sidewalks 
better  than  are  usually  found  in  cities  of  its  size.  A fine  system  of 
water-works,  owned  and  operated  by  the  city,  furnishes  an  ample 
supply  of  water  for  irrigating  and  household  purposes,  as  well  as  for 
the  prevention  of  any  disastrous  conflagration,  the  fire  department 
being  well  equipped  and  ably  managed.  A fine  electric  light  plant  fur- 
nishes light  for  the  city,  and  is  in  general  use  in  public  buildings, 
stores,  offices  and  many  of  the  private  residences. 

Churches  of  nearly  every  denomination  hold  services  in  Victoria, 
which  are  well  attended.  The  principal  secret  societies  have  lodges 
there.  The  educational  facilities  of  the  city  are  excellent,  there  be- 
ing several  institutions  of  learning  in  addition  to  the  ably  conducted 
public  schools.  Two  banks,  one  national  and  one  private,  both  with 
ample  capital,  are  as  solid  financial  institutions  as  can  be  found  in  the 
State.  An  opera  house  with  a seating  capacity  of  one  thousand,  as 
well  as  many  substantial  business  blocks  and  beautiful  homes,  make 
this  an  almost  ideal  town. 

Victoria  was  first  settled  In  1824.  The  general  face  of  the  coun- 
try throughout  the  section  is  level,  though  sufficiently  undulating  to 
afford  ample  drainage  for  much  the  larger  portion  of  the  county.  To 
the  westward  of  the  city  is  situated  the  far-famed  Mission  Valley, 
whose  picturesqueness  of  location  and  rich  lands  have  made  it  well 
known  both  far  and  near.  The  northern  portion  of  the  county  is  a 
rich,  alluvial,  sandy,  undulating  prairie,  with  fine  creeks  of  running 
waters.  It  is  in  this  section  that  Mr.  G.  Onderdonk  has  been  so  suc- 
cessful with  his  nurseries,  demonstrating  its  thorough  adaptation  to 
the  growth  of  fruits  and  flowers.  At  this  place  is  Nursery,  a depot 
on  the  Gulf,  Western  Texas  and  Pacific  Railroad,  nine  miles  above 
the  city  of  Victoria  and  nineteen  miles  below  the  city  of  Cuero,  in 


54 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


DeWitt  County,  at  which  there  is  a postoffice,  a fine  steam  cotton 
gin  and  grist  mill.  A short  distance  above  this  is  a stock  pen  on  the 
G.  W T.  & P.  railroad,  for  shipment  of  cattle,  post  office,  two  stores, 
etc.,  etc. 

The  southeastern  portion  of  the  county  is  comparatively  level, 
rich,  black,  stiff,  hogwallow  land,  producing  the  finest  native  grapes, 
with  a large  number  of  farms  on  the  Arinosa  and  Garcitas  creeks. 
Through  this  section  runs  that  branch  of  the  G.  W.  T & P.  railroad, 
running  from  Victoria  to  Port  Lavaca,  on  which  there  are  in  Victoria 
County  two  depots:  Guadalupe,  five  miles  below  Victoria  and  twen- 
ty-three miles  above  Port  Lavaca,  and  Placido,  thirteen  miles  befow 
Victoria  and  fifteen  above  Port  Lavaca. 

The  southwestern  portion  is  rich,  black  alluvial  prairie  soil,  quite 
undulating,  yielding  the  finest  of  native  grapes,  and  very  susceptible 
of  a high  state  of  cultivation,  producing  fine  crops  of  corn,  cotton,  sor- 
ghum, potatoes  and  all  varieties  of  garden  vegetables.  Through  this 
section  runs  that  branch  of  the  N.  Y.  T.  & M.  railroad  leading  from 
Victoria  through  Goliad  to  Beeville,  on  which  there  are  in  Victoria 
County,  Aloe,  a shipping  point  five  miles  west  of  Victoria;  Lucy,  a 
station  eight  miles  west  of  Victoria,  at  which  last  named  place  there  is 
quite  a settlement,  with  fine  farms  well  cultivated,  with  church  and 
schoolhouse. 

At  Victoria  the  compiler  of  this  pamphlet  secured  the  following 
facts  and  figures  which  can  be  depended  upon  as  reliable,  and  which 
apply  in  large  part  to  the  whole  region  from  Houston  to  Beeville:  The 
average  yield  of  cotton  is  three-fourths  of  a bale  per  acre;  of  corn,  30 
bushels;  sugarcane,  an  average  of  seven  barrels  of  molasses  per  acre, 
this  with  inferior  machinery  run  alone  by  horse  power;  sorghum 
yields  three  crops  a year  of  four  tons  each  per  acre;  millet  two  crops 
a year  of  two  tons  each;  concho  and  confederate  grass  comes  upon 
corn  land  after  the  crop  is  laid  by,  and  if  proper  care  is  taken  to  leave 
land  in  suitable  condition,  it  yields  a ton  per  acre;  native  hay  from 
prairie  sells  for  six  dollars  per  ton,  Irish  potatoes  yield  two  hundred 
bushels  per  acre,  sweet  potatoes  tw'o  hundred  bushels  per  acre,  onions 
forty  bushels  per  acre. 

Heretofore  the  attention  of  the  people  has  been  turned  principally 
to  the  raising  of  cattle,  for  which  purpose  the  county  has  been  to  a 
great  extent  fenced  into  large  pastures.  The  day  for  cattle  raising 
under  the  old  system  is  passed,  and  more  attention  is  given  to  farm- 
ing and  raising  fine  stock.  Jerseys,  Durham,  Brahman,  Holstein, 
Hereford  and  Devon  cattle  have  been  tested,  and  all  do  well,  yielding 
fine  profits. 

It  may  be  said  here  that  the  taxes,  state  and  county,  throughout 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


55 


the  Coast  Country,  run  from  70  to  95  cents  per  hundred  dollars,  and 
broken  farm  lands  are  assessed  at  from  $2.50  to  $2.75  per  acre. 

Port  Lavaca,  directly  situated  on  the  Gulf  Coast,  in  Calhoun, 
the  peninsular  count)’  of  Texas,  is  28  miles  east  of  Victoria  and  is  the 
terminus  of  the  G.  W.  T.  & P.  Railroad.  The  present  population  of 
the  town  is  nine  hundred  and  that  of  the  county  has  grown  from  eight 
hundred  in  1890  to  twenty-two  hundred  in  1895.  Population  has 
heretofore  been  retarded  through  the  great  stock  ’ranches  and  pas- 
tures, but  these  are  now  being  put  on  the  market  and  there  are  thou- 
sands of  acres  being  offered  to  purchasers  in  lots  ; to  suit.  The  soil 
is  a heavy  black  from  five 
deep  and  ranges  from  black- 
black  sandy.  Below  the 
is  fifteen  feet  of  clay  and 
below  that  qauicksand 
strata  in  which  there  is 
an  abundant  flow  of  ex- 
cellent water. The  town 


i 


to 


ten  feet 
waxy  to 
soil 


Post  Office,  Houston. 

of  Port  Lavaca  is  a 
great  fish  and  game 
shipping  point.  The 
waters  of  the  bay — 
ten  feet  in  depth,  with 
seven  feet  on  the  bar 
— are  filled  with  the 
finest  fish  while  in 
the  fall  and  winter 
thousands  of  ducks,  geese  and  brant  are  shot  and  shipped  to  New 
York,  Baltimore,  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  Kansas  City  as  well  as  to  the 
southern  cities.  Terrapin  farming  is  also  prosecuted  with  success. 
Green  Lake  in  Calhoun  County  is  the  largest  body  of  fresh  water 
in  the  state,  comprising  some  6000  acres,  with  a depth  of  twelve  feet 
in  the  center.  The  bluffs  about  it  are  in  places  forty  feet  high  and 
finely  timbered.  The  lake  is  filled  with  edible  fish.  At  Port  Lavaca 
the  writer  was  shown  specimens  of  figs  from  shoots  of  trees  raised 
long  before  the  war  and  which  the  Department  of  Agriculture  recent- 


Market  and  City  Hall,  Houston. 


56 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS- 


ly  pronounced  a new  and  valuable  variety.  1 also  saw  buckwheat 
which  had  been  planted  in  September  and  was  ripening  in  early  No- 
vember. Two  crops  of  potatoes,  two  of  melons  and  sometimes  two 
of  corn  are  raised  on  the  same  ground.  The  timber,  as  along  most 
of  the  coast  is  oak  of  various  kinds,  salt  water  cedar,  elm,  hackberry, 
etc.  The  county  has  a permanent  school  fund  of  $32,000,  which  en- 
ables it  to  have  first  class  schools  from  eight  to  ten  months  each  year. 
The  population  is  quiet  and  law  abiding  and  enterprising. 

Just  across  Lavaca  bay  near  the  town  of  Olivia  is  located  the 
famous  Swedish  Colony,  the  success  of  which  has  done  so  much  to 
make  known  the  resources  of  the  immediate  Coast  Country.  Excel- 
lent prairie  land  adapted  to  any  of  the  purposes  of  agriculture,  horti- 
culture or  truck  farming,  can  be  had  throughout  this  region  at  from  six 
to  ten  dollars  per  acre,  often  on  the  most  reasonable  terms,  one-quar- 
ter cash,  the  balance  in  seven  years  time. 

Cuero,  the  county  seat  of  DeWitt  County,  is  located  in  the  val- 
ley of  the  Guadalupe  river,  at  the  junction  of  the  Southern  Pacific  and 
San  Antonio  and  Aransas  Pass  Railway,  near  the  center  of  the 
county.  It  is  103  miles  southeast  from  San  Antonio,  183  miles  west 
of  Galveston  and  170  miles  from  the  new  deep  water  harbor  of  Aran- 
sas Pass.  It  is  a modern  progressive  city,  with  an  established  pres- 
ent and  a certain  future.  Its  location  is  exceptional  and  its  commer- 
cial possibilities  almost  unlimited.  The  city  is  laid  out  on  an  attrac- 
tive plan.  An  esplanade,  120  feet  in  width,  extends  through  the 
center  of  the  city,  and  all  cross  streets  are  seventy  feet  wide,  all  well 
lighted  and  graded.  The  principal  streets  are  lined  with  well  design- 
ed business  blocks  of  brick  and  stone,  of  handsome  appearance,  while 
fine  houses  of  modern  style  of  architecture,  with  attractive  grounds, 
greet  the  eye  on  every  hand.  The  stranger’s  attention  is  at  once  di- 
rected to  a beautiful  structure  of  native  white  stone,  trimmed  in  red 
sandstone,  which  is  now  under  course  of  construction,  and  promises 
when  completed,  to  be  one  of  the  handsomest  court  houses  in  the 
state,  costing  $70,000. 

During  the  season  of  1894-5  there  were  marketed  at  Cuero,  24- 
000  bales  of  cotton,  and  during  the  same  time  12,500  head  of  cattle, 
50  car  loads  of  horses,  mules,  sheep  and  hogs  were  shipped  from  this 
point  to  other  markets,  while  250  cars  of  lumber,  worth  $50,000  and 
2200  cars  of  merchandise  valued  at  two  million  dollars,  were  received 
and  distributed.  Cuero  supplies  the  farmers  and  merchants  of  a large 
adjacent  territory.  Two  extensive  merchandise  houses  have  a large 
wholesale  business  extending  to  every  portion  of  southwest  Texas. 
One  of  the  largest  cotton  seed  oil  mills  in  the  state,  having  a capacity 
of  eighty  tons  per  day  is  in  full  operation,  and  a cotton  factory  with 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS 


57 


fifteen  hundred  spindles  producing  the  coarser  grades  of  cotton  goods, 
for  which  there  is  an  unlimited  home  market.  A new  compress  cost- 
ing $50,000  has  just  commenced  operations,  and  notwithstanding  a 
reduced  acreage  is  doing  a fine  business. 

Cuero  has  three  of  the  largest  cotton  gins  in  the  state,  supplied 
with  the  latest  improved  machinery,  with  a daily  output  of  three 
hundred  bales  Machine  shops  of  large  capacity  are  kept  busy  by  an 
increasing  trade  from  several  counties.  An  ice  factory  ships  ice  in 
car  load  lots  in  all  directions;  it  also  has  a cold  storage  department  in 
connection,  and  a natatorium  with  a large  swimming  pool.  Two 
broom  factories,  two  bottling  works,  a cigar  factory,  a tannery,  a 
planing  mill  and  a cistern  factory  are  among  the  material  interests  of 
the  city.  Cuero  has  two  private  and  one  national  banking  institu- 
tions. They  are  all  strong  financially,  under  safe  and  conservative 
management,  and  transact  an  enormous  business  amounting  to  more 
than  seven  and  one-half  millions  dollars  annually.  The  financial 
status  of  the  community  is  excellent,  failures  in  business  circles  are 
few,  and  losses  from  loans  are  almost  unknown.  The  city  is  in  good 
financial  condition.  It  owns  its  water  works  plant  which  cost  $50,- 
000.  The  total  assessed  value  of  the  city  is  $1,750,000  at  a very 
conservative  valuation.  The  tax  rate  is  eighty  cents  on  the  $100.00. 
The  bonded  debt  of  the  city  does  not  exceed  $40,000,  and  warrants 
are  all  paid  in  full  once  a year.  The  city  is  lighted  by  electricity, 
the  plant  being  dwned  by  a private  corporation.  Local  and  long  dis- 
tance telephone  systems  are  among  the  modern  equipments  of  the 
city. 

Cuero  has  a fine  graded  school  system  with  upwards  of  five 
hundred  pupils,  and  a high  school  building  costing  $20,000,  and  sev- 
eral private  schools  of  high  merit.  Eight  churches  rear  their  spires 
heavenward,  as  an  evidence  of  Christian  enlightenment  and  a God 
fearing  community.  The  population  of  the  county  is  approximately 
20,000  people,  about  six  thousand  of  which  are  urban  and  14,000  rural 
residents.  The  assessors  returns  for  1895  show  a total  valuation  of 
$6,062,047,  for  the  county,  an  increase  of  $93,541  over  last  year,  due 
entirely  to  improvements  as  land  values  were  not  raised.  This  valu- 
ation is  on  a very  conservative  estimate  and  probably  less  than  half 
the  real  value  of  all  property  in  the  county  which  the  writer  believes 
to  be  approximately  fifteen  million  dollars.  There  are  in  the  county 
48,336  cattle;  10852  horses  and  mules;  7634  hogs  and  3987  sheep. 
Stock  raising  was  the  principal  industry  in  the  past,  but  agriculture 
has  already  taken  the  first  position,  and  while  the  farmers  all  raise 
some  stock,  the  great  herds  are  being  driven  to  seek  new  and  less 
valuable  lands. 


58 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS 


The  soil  and  climate  are  well  adapted  to  fruit  growing,  and  there 
are  a few  large  and  productive  orchards  in  the  county,  but  the  de- 
mand is  much  greater  than  the  supply,  and  there  are  great  opportuni- 
ties for  the  horticulturist  here.  LeConte  and  other  varieties  of  pears 
grow  to  perfection,  and  for  flavor  are  superior  to  those  grown  in  Cal- 
ifornia. As  much  as  four  hundred  dollars  per  acre  has  been  realized 
upon  one  year’s  crop  of  this  fruit.  Peaches  of  the  southern  Chinese 
varieties  are  particularly  prolific,  while  the  “vine  and  fig-tree”  have 
their  home  here.  Plums,  pomegranates,  Japanese  persimmons  and 
berries  of  all  kinds,  particularly  blackberries,  are  successfully  grown 
Fortune  awaits  any  and  all  who  desire  to  engage  in  fruit  raising  in  De- 
Witt  County.  Fine  land  suitable  for  farming  or  fruitgrowing  can  be 
had  at  from  five  to  twelve  dollars  per  acre,  and  even  less  in  large 
tracts.  Improved  farms  sell  at  from  ten  to  twenty-five  dollars  per 
acre,  and  rare  bargains  are  sometimes  offered.  Artesian  water  has 
been  obtained  at  a depth  of  from  50  to  125  feet,  while  pure  surface 
water  is  reached  at  from  15  to  40  feet.  DeWitt  County  is  a part  of 
the  famous  “Cotton  Belt”  of  Texas,  and  the  fleecy  staple  is  the  prin- 
cipal crop.  Cotton  matures  early,  this  county  for  years  furnishing 
the  first  bale  of  the  season.  It  is  planted  sometimes  as  early  as  Feb- 
ruary, but  usually  in  March,  and  it  begins  to  mature  in  June.  Later 
cotton,  however,  has  given  good  satisfaction  for  the  past  few  years. 
The  crop  averages  about  three-quarters  of  a bale  to  the  acre,  and  sells 
for  cash  in  the  Cuero  market.  Corn  is  an  important  crop,  and  the 
present  year’s  yield  was  enormous.  Oats  produce  as  high  as  one  hun- 
dred bushels  to  the  acre,  and  barley  and  rye  are  profitable.  Irish  po- 
tatoes yield  two  hundred  bushels  to  the  acre,  while  sweet  potatpes 
are  usually  more  prolific.  Vegetables  of  all  kinds  grow  to  perfection, 
and  many  varieties  grow  nearly  all  the  year.  Melons  attain  enormous 
size,  and  are  of  excellent  flavor.  Hay  is  an  important  and  valuable 
crop,  both  prairie  and  field  grasses  growing  luxuriantly.  Hay  com- 
mands a fair  price,  and  as  much  as  three  and  four  tons  per  acre  are 
cut,  two  crops  per  year  being  the  rule.  Millet,  fodder  and  other  feed 
crops  are  raised  with  little  labor  and  small  outlay.  This  is  the  natural 
home  of  the  cow  and  sheep,  the  pastures  of  this  section  being  unsur- 
passed. Cattle  need  only  be  fed  a few  weeks  in  the  year,  and  sheep 
require  little  attention. 

There  are  fine  chances  for  profitable  dairy  farming  here;  good 
butter  and  milk  command  good  prices  and  ready  sale.  Native  timber 
consists  of  post  oak,  live  oak,  blackjack  and  mesquite  on  the  uplands, 
while  pecan,  hickory,  ash,  elm,  mulberry  and  hackberry  abound  in 
the  valleys.  There  is  a plentiful  supply  for  all  purposes  for  many 
years  to  come.  For  the  above  facts  the  writer  is  indebted  to  Mr.  A. 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


59 


S.  Crisp,  editor  of  the  Cuero  Star,  whose  intelligent  interest  has  done 
much  to  bring  his  city  and  county  into  notice  abroad.  The  descrip- 
tion of  soils  and  crops  applying  to  Cuero  will  apply  with  equal  force 
to  the  region  for  a considerable  distance  north  and  south  on  a line 
equi-distant  from  the  coast  line. 


Court  House  at  Goliod,  Texas, 

Goliad,  26  miles  south  of  Victoria,  is  one  of  the  historic  towns  of 
Texas,  its  history  interwoven  with  that  of  the  State,  and  embalming 
some  of  the  noblest  examples  of  devotion  to  patriotic  fervor.  It  is  a 
beautiful  and  busy  town,  in  a splendid  agricultural  region.  The 


6o 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS 


county  was  created  in  1836.  It  was  a municipality  of  the  same  name 
prior  to  its  organization.  It  is  situated  in  Southwest  Texas,  and  is 
one  of  the  second  tier  of  counties  from  the  Gulf  coast,  from  which  it 
is  separated  by  Refugio  County. 

The  leading  industry  of  the  people  is  stock-raising.  Agriculture 
in  connection  with  stock-raising  is  on  the  increase.  The  soil,  which  is 
a black  sandy  loam,  is  well  suited  to  the  growth  of  the  common  field 
crops  of  the  State.  That  along  the  river  bottoms  is  of  great  fertility. 
Nearly  all  kinds  of  vegetables  grow  and  yield  well;  fruits  also  pro- 
duce well. 

Goliad,  the  county  seat,  is  a place  of  historic  importance,  having 
been  the  scene  of  a massacre  of  a garrison  of  Texas  soldiers  by  the 
Mexican  army  in  1836,  after  the  former  had  yielded  by  a surrender  to 
greatly  superior  numbers. 

The  surface  of  the  county  is  undulating,  through  which  flows 
the  San  Antonio  River,  and  a number  of  ever-living  creeks.  The  as- 
sessed valuation  of  property  is  upwards  of  four  million  dollars,  and 
the  school  population  is  close  to  two  thousand.  The  city  is  graced  by 
a beautiful  court-house  and  very  excellent  commercial  buildings  and 
private  residences,  and  is  the  seat  of  a cultivated  society. 

Beeville,  which  was  established  in  1856,  a year  after  the  organiz- 
ation of  the  county,  is  at  the  junction  of  the  Gulf,  Western  Texas  & 
Pacific  and  San  Antonio  & Aransas  Pass  railways.  Its  present  popu- 
lation is  three  thousand.  An  excellent  court-house  and  a model  school 
building  are  among  the  public  structures  which  attract  attention. 
There  are  six  churches  of  different  denominations.  A Holly  system 
of  waterworks  has  been  putin,  and  an  electric  light  plant  is  talked  of 
in  connection  with  the  ice  plant  which  is  now  in  operation.  Beeville 
has  several  enterprises  in  the  way  of  manufactories,  such  as  a broom 
factory,  fence  factory,  cornice  factory,  windmill  factory,  etc.,  besides 
a large  number  of  enterprising  merchants  and  business  men,  and  two 
national  banks  are  in  operation. 

Like  all,  or  the  greater  part  of  this  section  of  the  Coast  country, 
the  soil  is  a black  sandy  loam,  and  well  adapted  to  the.  growth  of 
fruits.  The  grape,  currant,  and  the  berry  fruits,  blackberries,  dew- 
berries and  strawberries,  all  do  well.  The  general  surface  of  the 
county  is  rolling  prairie,  covered  with  a luxuriant  growth  of  grass, 
which  furnishes  ample  pasturage  for  stock  the  larger  portion  of  the 
year. 

Directly  on  the  Gulf  coast,  at  the  extreme  southern  boundary  of 
the  region  we  are  exploiting,  are  two  excellent  towns,  Corpus  Christi 
and  Rockport,  delightful  winter  or  summer  resorts,  with  much  to  com- 
mend them  to  the  commercial  spirit  of  the  age.  Corpus  Christi  is  the 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


6l 


most  beautifully  located  city  by  the  sea  in  America.  It  is  at  the  head 
of  Corpus  Christi  Bay,  directly  behind  Ropes  Pass,  and  is  known  as 
the  Bluff  City,  from  the  fact  of  being  situated  upon  a noble  bluff 
twice  as  high  as  the  famous  Long  Branch,  New  Jersey.  Before  it  ex- 
pands 150  miles  of  shimmering'water.  It  is  not  an  unusual  thing  for 
a winter  to  slip  by  here  without  the  appearance  of  a frost.  Here  is  to 
be  had  the  finest  of  fishing,  boating,  bathing  and  hunting  It  is  fa- 
mous for  its  delicious  oysters  and  other  sea  food.  It  is  celebrated  for 
its  healthfulness,  and  its  death  rate  is  more  favorable  than  that  of  the 
most  renowned  health  resorts  of  the  world.  The  official  report  for  1890 
shows  that  the  deaths  among  white  people  from  natural  causes  were 
only  eight  per  thousand.  This  is  due  to  its  situation  facing  the  bay, 
swept  by  the  salty  sea  breezes  fresh  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  These 
breezes  make  it  cooler  in  summer  and  warmer  in  winter  than  any  oth- 
er city  in  Texas.  The  population  of  the  city  is  about  six  thousand, 
and  the  business  center  is  substantially  built  up,  while  upon  the  bluff 
overlooking  the  bay  are  very  handsome  homes,  some  of  which  would 
do  credit  to  Newport  or  Bar  Harbor.  There  are  two  flowing  mineral 
wells  at  Corpus  Christi,  one  of  them  possessing  remarkable  curative 
properties.  The  lands  in  the  vicinity  are  suitable  to  the  cultivation 
of  tobacco,  sugar,  cotton,  grapes,  figs,  peaches,  oranges,  lemons,  ban- 
anas and  all  varieties  of  garden  truck.  The  rich  dark  soil,  which  is 
from  five  to  nine  feet  deep,  is  practically  inexhaustible.  Mr.  Joe  Tri- 
pis,  a practical  market  gardener,  has  prepared  the  following  statistics 
of  early  market  gardening  from  his  own  experience.  The  estimates 
are  based  on  two  crops  per  year,  while  as  a matter  of  fact  three  are 
raised  successfully. 


COST. 

YIELD  PER 
ACRE 

Earlj 

Crop 

Cate 

Crop 

Amount 

Seed  Potatoes,  8 bushels  to  the  acre,  at  .$1 
Seed  Corn,  ten  quarts  to  the  acre,  at  30c . 

$ 8.00 
3.0U 

Bushels 

Price 

Price 

Seed  Tomatoes,  V4lb  to  the  acre,  at  $2 
Seed  Peas,  3 bushels  to  the  acre,  at  $2.50,. 

.50 

7.5!) 

Potatoes,  125 

$3.00 

$0.75 

$ 468 . 75 

Seed  Melons,  lL4lbs  to  the  acre,  at  35c  . . 
Seed  Cabbage  -%lb  to  the  acre,  at  $2 

52 

Corn  ,36  

.60 

.40 

35  00 

1.00 

Tomatoes,  250 

4.00 

2.00 

1,500.00 

Seed  Cauliflower,  two  ounces,  at  $5 

10.00 

Peas,  55 

8.00 

1.50 

247  50 

Seed  Beans,  two  bushel  s to  acre,  at  $4 

8.00 

Beans,  9‘)  

3.0. 

1.50 

405  00 

Ten  acres  of  land,  at  $50  

500  00 

Melons,  1,000  . . . 

.25 

.10 

350.00 

Three-room  Cottage  

450  00 

Cabbage,  8000. 

.07 

560  00 

Help,  etc 

Total  

7 1 .48 

$ 1.060.10 

Cauliflower,  7,000.. 
Total  

— 

— 

1,400.00 
$ 4,966  25 

STATE  of  TEXAS,  ) Sworn  to  and  subscribed  before  me  this  12th  day  of  February* 

COUNTY  of  ARANSAS.  ( 1891..  E.  H.  NOR  YELL, 

Notary  Public,  Aransas  County,  Texas. 

Rockport,  in  San  Patricio  County,  has  an  interesting  history. 
Twenty  years  ago  Rockport  was  the  wealthiest  town  of  its  size  in  the 
South,  and  the  name  was  known  to  all  Texans  of  that  day — before 
the  railroads  came — as  one  of  the  largest  beef  canning  centers  in  the 
Union,  in  fact,  the  Chicago  of  the  South  as  regards  this  industry. 


62 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS 


Now  it  is  one  of  the  most  inspiring  and  beautiful  and  restful  sum- 
mer resorts  to  be  imagined.  The  town  is  situated  on  what  is  called 
Live  Oak  Peninsula,  between  Aransas  and  Copano  Bays,  about  six 
miles  from  the  point  on  the  Aransas  Bay  side  and  three  miles  from 
the  Copano  Bay  side.  The  land  of  the  Peninsular  is  a mixture  of 
disintegrated  shell  and  sand,  with  an  underlying  white  clay  subsoil 
from  four  to  six  feet  from  the  surface,  and  is  profusely  covered  with 
live  oak  trees,  from  which  it  takes  its  name.  The  live  oaks  extend  to 
the  water’s  edge  on  both  shores,  and  in  some  places  are  of  immense 
growth,  affording  a picturesque  combination  of  forest  and  sea.  The 
population  of  the  town  is  about  twelve  hundred,  and  the  principal  in- 
dustries are  hunting  and  fishing. 

To-day  the  mournful  evidences  of  her  former  greatness  lie  in  mute 
proof  of  the  changed  economic  conditions  made  possible  by  the  iron 
horse.  And  to-day  the  masters  of  the  iron  horse  have  decided  to  again 
bring  life  to  this  old  town,  not  as  a beef  canning  center,  not  as  a place 
to  seek  a livelihood  by  the  wholesale  destruction  of  her  thousands  of 
wild  fowl  and  fishes,  but  as  a spot  selected  by  nature  as  her  favorite 
playground,  to  which  she  has  given  the  balmiest,  brightest  days,  the 
purest,  dryest  air,  and  the  most  elevated  position  of  her  southern 
coast. 

From  indications  taken  six  times  each  twenty-four  hours  the  past 
three  years  by  Capt.  Stracken,  the  wharfmaster,  at  6 a.m.,  12  m., 
3 p.m.,  6 p.m.,  12  m.  and  3 a.m.,  the  following  averages  have  been 
arrived  at:  Winter  months — thermometer  57  deg.,  barometer  30.70; 
spring  months — thermometer  77,  barometer  30;  summer  months — 
thermometer  86,  barometer  29.90;  fall  months — thermometer  60,  bar- 
ometer 30.50.  This  gives  more  correct  averages  than  could  be  arrived 
at  from  the  Signal  Service  reports,  as  their  indications  are  taken  only 
three  times  in  twenty-four  hours. 

This  section  has  no  rainy  season,  but  rains  average  well  through- 
out the  year,  with  a possible  excess  during  June  and  July.  Water 
never  stays  but  a few  minutes  on  the  surface,  no  matter  how  hard 
the  fall,  but  sinks  through  the  porous  soil  and  is  retained  on  the  clay 
subsoil. 

During  the  months  of  November  and  December,  1892,  January 
and  February,  1893,  there  were  ninety-seven  clear  days,  seven 
cloudy  days,  and  seventeen  partly  both. 

Agriculture  in  this  section  up  to  about  five  years  ago  was  an  un- 
known quantity,  and  is  engaged  in  at  present  only  to  a limited  extent, 
except  in  two  particulars  — grape  and  winter  vegetable  growing. 
These  industries  do  well  here,  there  being  now  about  eight  hundred 
acres  planted  in  winter  vegetables,  which  will  supply  the  market  un- 
til March. 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS 


63 


A Coast  Country  Pear  Orchard. 


64 


THE  CAOST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


In  a review  of  the  immediate  Coast  country,  as  exemplified  at 
such  points  as  Corpus  Christi,  Rockport,  Aransas  Pass,  Port  Lavaca, 
etc.,  it  may  be  said  that  there  are  aids  and  abettors  in  the  economy 
of  living  that  are  readily  taken  advantage  of.  From  fall  to  spring  all 
the  waters  are  covered  with  millions  of  duck,  geese  and  brant,  and 
on  shore  there  are  quail,  rabbits,  peccaries,  wild  turkeys,  deer,  etc. 
The  bays  are  alive  with  the  finest  food  and  game  fish  of  many  varie- 
ties. There  are  oysters,  shrimp,  crabs  and  turtles  without  limit. 

Another  pleasant  feature  is  the  conspicuous  absence  of  doctors’ 
bills  from  the  domestic  economy.  As  the  residents  say,  the  country 
could  not  be  healthier,  there  is  absolutely  no  malaria  in  this  Coast 
Country.  This  may  be  ascribed  to  the  pure  drinking  water  and  the 
salt  breezes  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Though  the  death  rate  at  Gal- 
veston is  only  13.3  per  1000,  it  is  so  much  lower  in  Corpus  Christi 
that  Galveston  is  considered  a very  unhealthy  place.  It  is  only  8 
per  1000  at  Corpus  Christi;  and  that  is  about  as  low  as  it  can  get, 
even  where  people  die  of  old  age  only.  At  Aransas  Pass  it  has  not 
reached  8 per  1000,  as  but  few  people  are  old  enough  to  establish  the 
rate.  The  doctors  say  there  is  no  prevailing  disease,  and  children 
grow  up  in  perfect  immunity  from  many  of  the  dangers  that  sur- 
round them  in  the  north. 

Thus  in  brief  we  have  reviewed — not  fully  nor  in  detail — the 
chief  towns  of  the  country.  It  has  been  a trying  task,  because  so 
many  charming  places,  made  memorable  by  the  courtesy  and  enthu- 
siasm of  their  leading  citizens,  no  less  than  by  their  public  spirit  and 
progress,  have  been  worthy  of  consideration  ; but  in  so  general  a re- 
view, having  so  many  interests  to  present  within  a limited  space  and 
with  so  many  demands  upon  one’s  time  and  thought,  it  was  not  pos- 
sible to  do  justice  at  this  time  to  much  that  appealed  to  one  for  con- 
sideration. It  suffices  to  say  that  the  towns  referred  to  are  an  index 
to  all.  The  lesser  ones  are  prototypes  of  the  larger — infused  by  the 
same  spirit  of  progress,  of  enlightenment  and  of  thrift.  They  are  all 
centers  of  intelligence,  of  culture  and  refinement  in  proportion  to  their 
size.  As  they  afford  markets  for  the  products  of  the  farmer  so  too 
they  offer  educational  and  social  advantages  and  these  are  by  no 
means  confined  to  those  enumerated.  Each  county  capital  has  its 
satellites,  lesser  centers,  so  far  as  population  is  concerned  and  yet 
equally  important  to  the  neighborhoods  tributary  to  them.  Having 
come  in  contact  with  many  people  in  many  different  localities  in  this 
wide  Coast  Country,  the  disinterested  writer  vouches  for  their  intelli- 
gence, their  kindly  interest,  their  hospitality  and  their  activity  in 
every  movement  to  promote  the  welfare  of  their  section  or  secure 
and  assist  desirable  emigrants  to  secure  homes  among  them. 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


65 


On  the  Public  Square  at  Waco. 


THE  HOME  SEEKER  AND  A PEN-PICTURE  CONTRAST. 


It  is  not  improbable  that  in  the  course  of  this  hasty  review  many 
of  the  less  conspicuous  and  some  of  the  more  important  field  and  garden 
crops  which  can  be  profitably  raised  in  the  Coast  Country  have  been 
omitted.  But  enough  has  been  said  to  show  how  varied  are  the  prod- 
ucts and  to  illustrate  the  wide  range  here  afforded  the  agriculturist,  the 
horticulturist  and  the  gardener.  Reference  has  been  made  to  the 
soils,  to  the  lines  of  transportation  and  the  methods  of  communica- 
tion, to  the  market  and  shipping  facilities,  to  the  advantages  of  cli- 
mate, to  the  character  of  the  population  and  the  influence  of  its 
schools,  churches  and  all  the  institutions  of  an  advanced  civilization. 
It  is  needless  to  say  that  a warm  welcome  awaits  the  law  abiding,  in- 
dustrious settler. 

But  what  class  of  people  should  settle  on  the  Gulf  Coast? 

In  the  first  place  this  is  not  a Utopia  where  man  can  acquire 
wealth  without  effort.  For  him  who  comes  with  the  energy  and  de- 
termination, the  willingness  to  work  and  the  purpose  to  succeed, 
there  is  an  assured  competency.  But  if  any  one  who  shall  read 
these  pages  has  imbibed  the  impression  that  he  can  secure  affluence 
in  idleness  he  might  as  well  dismiss  the  thought  or  stay  away  from 
Texas.  The  good  things  to  be  had  here  are  to  be  won  as  the  result 
of  toil.  The  soil  does  not  yield  without  planting  nor  give  up  its  har- 
vests without  reaping.  Fertile  and  generous  as  it  is,  it  must  be  cul- 
tivated and  the  husbandman  must  follow  the  plow  or  bend  with  the 
hoe  as  elsewhere.  The  only  difference  is  that  here  the  returns  are 
larger.  The  reward  is  in  proportion  to  the  care  and  industry  be- 
stowed. 

1 took  a great  deal  of  pains  to  ascertain  what  had  been  accom- 
plished by  actual  settlers  who  had  come  from  the  North,  and  to  learn 
what  were  the  requisites  for  successful  home  seekers  of  modest 
means  and  what  they  could  reasonably  hope  to  accomplish  with  mod- 
est capital  at  their  disposal.  I looked  in  upon  the  colony  of  Swedes 
who  came  from  Travis  County,  Texas,  in  1892,  and  located  eight 
miles  west  of  Victoria.  They  paid  ten  dollars  an  acre  for  their  land 
and  put  small  improvements  upon  it.  Upon  their  purchases  they 
paid  one-third  down  and  had  five  years  in  which  to  pay  the  balance. 
The  second  year  all  but  one  man  paid  out.  In  the  spring  of  1895 
they  were  offered  $22. 50  per  acre  for  their  land  and  refused  it.  They 
knew  a good  thing  when  they  saw  it. 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


67 


A man  coming  to  the  Coast  Country  with  five  or  six  hundred 
dollars,  a good  team  and  farm  implements  with  the  purpose  of  en- 
gaging in  fruit  culture  should  buy  about  forty  acres.  With  the  as- 
sistance of  his  family  he  can  easily  plant  and  cultivate  eight  or  ten 
acres  in  sweet  potatoes,  and  the  other  thirty  acres  in  garden  truck, 
berries  or  cotton.  From  these  crops  he  can  safely  count  on  a return 
of  from  $600  to  $800.  As  soon  as  he  gathers  his  crop  (October  and 
November)  he  can  plant  a winter  garden,  from  which  he  can  fully 
meet  his  necessary  living  expenses  during  the  winter  months ; then, 
during  January  and  February  he  should  plant  two  to  five  acres  in 
strawberries,  and  put  out  as  much  orchard  as  he  desires,  as  the  land 
will  be  in  fine  condition  after  one  year’s  cultivation  in  either  cotton  or 
sweet  potatoes.  For  succeeding  years,  until  his  orchard  comes  into 
bearing,  he  can  cultivate  the  space  between  the  trees  in  corn,  cotton 
and  vegetables.  His  forty  acres,  well  cultivated,  will  yield  him  an- 
nually from  $2,500  to  $5,000,  and  from  $300  to  $500  will  pay  for  all 
extra  labor  required.  This  extra  help  will  be  needed  only  for  a short 
time  in  gathering  and  marketing  his  crops.  Nearly  all  the  work  can 
be  done  by  himself  and  family.  It  is  thought  a yield  of  $500  to  $800 
per  acre  is  a low  estimate  for  a bearing  pear  orchard,  and  strawber- 
ries will  yield  from  $300  to  $500  per  acre.  Plums,  grapes  and  some 
other  fruits  do  as  well  or  better  than  pears. 

The  result  of  my  investigations  in  the  Coast  Country  as  a whole 
— forming  a composite  picture,  as  it  were,  to  meet  all  requirements, 
with  such  modifications  as  local  conditions  would  necessitate,  but  ap- 
plicable to  the  larger  portion  of  the  region — convinced  me  that  a home- 
seeker  should  at  least  have  money  enough  to  make  a one-third  pay- 
ment on  his  land,  (it  is  usually  sold  on  a cash  payment  of  one-third 
or  one-fourth,  balance  in  five  or  seven  years  at  seven  or  eight  per 
cent.)  buy  necessary  tools,  implements  and  stock  and  put  up  his  im- 
provements in  the  way  of  house  and  outbuildings.  Lumber  for  ordi- 
nary purposes  costs  from  $8  to  $14  per  thousand,  and  it  is  forty  per 
cent,  cheaper  to  build  a house  in  the  Coast  Country  than  in  the  North, 
not  only  because  the  material  is  less  expensive,  but  because  it  is  not 
necessary,  in  a climate  where  one  ton  of  coal  or  its  equivalent  in  wood 
is  ample  for  the  winter,  to  construct  such  houses  as  the  rigorous  cli- 
mate of  the  North  necessitates. 

Let  us  suppose  that  our  home-seeker  has  purchased  eighty  acres 
at  $10  per  acre — $800.  He  has  paid  a little  more  than  he  might  have 
got  other  land  for,  but  he  has  wisely  chosen  with  respect  to  drainage, 
soil,  proximity  to  railroad  and  town.  He  paid  one-third  down,  which 
was  $275.  His  house  cost  him  $200.  In  four  or  five  years  he  will 
move  this  house  back  and  you  will  find  him  living  in  a more  impor- 


68 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS- 


tant  mansion,  but  the  present  home  is  comfortable  even  if  it  is  plain 
and  unpretentious.  He  spent  $225  for  his  team  and  necessary  imple 
ments,  and  his  other  necessary  expenses  are  $150. 

Now  our  home-seeker  is,  ready  to  begin  the  real  work  for  which 
he  came.  It  don’t  matter  much  what  the  season  when  he  arrived, 
for  he  can  go  right  to  work  putting  in  a crop.  But  the  imaginary  set- 
tler of  modest  means  whom  we  have  in  mind  reached  his  land  about 
November  1st,  and  immediately  after  making  his  improvements  he 
commenced  breaking  the  sod  In  fact  he  hadn’t  waited  to  make  his 
improvements  before  putting  in  some  vegetables, ’winter  cabbage, 
etc.,  which  he  could  sell  at  high  prices  at  the  North,  March  1st  In 
the  middle  of  January  he  was  planting  snap  beans,  and  between  the 
first  and  fifteenth  of  February  he  got  in  his  crop.  His  spring  vegeta- 
bles he  got  out  about  the  first  of  March,  planting  cucumbers,  snap 
beans,  tomatoes,  radishes,  etc.,  which  he  began  to  ship  the  last  of 
April. 

Between  the  first  and  tenth  of  March  he  planted  his  corn  and 
oats.  Our  new  settler  divided  his  place  pretty  equitably  according 
to  his  needs,  for  he  put  in  twenty  acres  of  cotton,  twenty  acres  of 
corn,  five  in  sorghum  and  five  in  oats,  three  in  vegetables  and  the 
balance  in  pasture  and  meadow.  Beginning  upon  some  such  general 
plan  as  this  our  settler  would  pay  out  the  second  or  third  year  and 
would  open  an  account  at  the  bank  besides. 

And  talking  about  banks  reminds  us  of  a point  worth  mentioning. 
The  new  settler  must  not  depend  upon  loans  from  the  banks.  He 
won’t  get  them.  The  exemption  laws  of  Texas  are  so  liberal  that  the 
banks  for  their  own  protection  and  as  a matter  of  common  prudence 
dare  not  loan  heavily  upon  this  class  of  security.  For  this  reason  the 
farmers  of  Texas  are  perhaps  the  most  debt-free  and  independent  in 
the  world,  and  the  liberal  spirit  in  which  these  laws  were  framed  has 
been  a blessing  to  the  commonwealth.  Thus  the  property  exempt 
from  forced  sale  is  as  follows: 

1.  The  homestead  of  the  family,  not  to  exceed  200  acres,  togeth- 
er with  improvements. 

2.  All  household  and  kitchen  furniture. 

3.  Any  lot  or  lots  in  the  cemetery  held  for  the  purposes  of  se- 
pulture. 

4.  All  implements  of  husbandry 

5.  All  tools,  apparatus  and  books  belonging  to  any  trade  or  p^ 
fession. 

6.  The  family  library  and  all  family  portraits  and  pictures. 

7.  Five  milch  cows  and  their  calves. 

8.  Two  yoke  of  work  oxen  with  necessary  yokes  and  chains. 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


69 


Orchard  Scene  near  Victoria. 


70 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


9.  Two  horses  and  one  wagon. 

10.  One  carriage  or  buggy 

11.  One  gun. 

12.  Twenty  hogs. 

13.  Twenty  head  of  sheep 

14.  All  saddles,  bridles  and  harness  for  the  use  of  the  family. 

15.  All  provision  and  forage  on  hand  for  home  consumption. 

16.  All  current  wages  for  personal  services. 

Heretofore  reference  has  been  made  in  a general  way  to  the  soil 
of  the  coast  region — the  black  waxy  or  hog  wallow,  and  the  various 
sandy  soils,  light  and  dark.  It  is  very  necessary  that  the  new  settler 
should  examine  these  soils  for  himself  and  select  such  an  one  as  is 
adapted1  to  the  purposes  he  designs  to  put  it  to.  The  sandy  soils  be- 
come more  general  as  one  goes  south  from  Houston  and  back  from  the 
Gulf  coast.  The  special  adaptability  of  each  variety  of  soil  being  well 
known,  the  settler  will  have  no  difficulty  in  informing  himself  should 
his  own  experience  be  insufficient,  but  for  purposes  of  guidance  we 
introduce  the  analysis  of  the  soils  of  the  State,  applying  as  it  does  to 
the  Coast  Country,  given  bv  the  State  Commissioner  of  Agriculture 
in  his  annual  report  for  1894.  He  says: 

“Texas  justly  lays  claim  to  greater  variety  and  richness  of  soil 
than  any  State  in  the  Union.  The  black  waxy,  black  sandy,  blacK 
pebbly,  hog  wallow,  gray  sandy,  red  sandy,  sandy  loam  and  alluvial 
soils  are  each  to  be  found  in  the  State,  the  majority  of  them  in  great- 
er or  less  quantities  in  each  section.  About  the  best  evidence  of  the 
richness  and  fertility  of  these  various  soils  that  can  be  offered  is  the 
fact  that  commercial  fertilizers,  now  so  common  in  the  older  States, 
and  constituting  as  much  a fixed  charge  on  the  agricultural  interests 
of  those  sections  as  the  seed  necessary  to  plant  the  ground,  are  not 
used  at  all  in  Texas.  Another  fact  worthy  of  mention  in  this  connec- 
tion is  that  there  are  thousands  of  acres  in  cultivation  in  this  State 
that  have  been  cultivated  continuously  for  more  than  thirty  years 
which  now  yield  as  much  per  acre  as  they  did  when  first  planted. 
The  principal  soils  of  Texas  are  the  black  waxy,  black  sandy  and  al- 
luvial lands  of  the  river  bottoms.  The  other  varieties  are  minor  divis- 
ions, and  for  the  purpose  of  this  report  a brief  description  of  these  only 
will  be  given. 

“Black  waxy  soil. — The  black  waxy  soil,  so  called  from  its  color 
and  adhesive  qualities,  is  the  richest  and  most  durable  of  the  soils  of 
the  State.  It  constitutes  a large  percentage  of  the  prairie  region,  and 
is  better  adapted  to  the  growth  of  grain  crops  than  other  soils  of  the 
State.  It  varies  in  depth  from  twelve  inches  to  many  feet,  the  aver- 
age depth  being  about  eighteen  inches,  and  is  not  appreciably  affected 
by  the  washing  rains  so  injurious  to  looser  soils. 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


7 1 


One  of  the  largest  bodies  of  upland  black  prairie  in  the  United 
States  extends  from  Lamar  County  on  the  Red  River,  southwest  in 
an  irregular  manner  to  a point  south  of  San  Antonio,  in  Bexar  Coun- 
ty, with  a width  of  140  miles  on  the  north  end,  100  in  the  middle,  and 
about  60  on  the  south  end,  and  embracing  twenty-three  and  parts  of 
twenty-six  counties. 

“Black  sandy  soil. — This  soil  covers  a very  large  area  of  the 
State,  and  is  very  productive  and  easily  cultivated.  It  is  highly  es- 
teemed for  gardening  purposes  and  fruit  growing.  It  is  very  loose, 
and  requires  care  and  attention  to  prevent  deterioration  from  washing 
away  of  the  surface.  Portions  of  the  timber  region,  counties  border- 
ing on  the  timber  belt  of  East  Texas,  and  also  the  Cross  Timbers, 
contain  more  or  less  sandy  land. 

“The  alluvial  soils  of  the  river  bottoms  vary  in  quality  according 
to  the  territory  drained  by  the  streams  on  which  they  are  located. 
River  soils  east  of  the  Brazos  River  partake  more  of  the  waxy  char- 
acter and  are  stiff er  than  those  on  the  Brazos  and  streams  westward 
that  drain  the  sandy  lands  of  the  northwest.  The  Brazos  River  bot- 
tom is  regarded  as  the  most  valuable  in  the  State,  on  account  of  its 
fertility  and  comparative  immunity  from  overflows.  The  lower  Bra- 
zos is  in  the  heart  of  the  sugar  growing  belt,  and  its  bottom  lands  in 
that  section  are  considered  equal  to  the  best  in  the  sugar  producing 
region  of  Louisiana.” 

In  the  settlement  of  remote  regions  it  was  deemed  expedient  to 
form  colonies  for  mutual  protection  or  to  secure  social  environments 
not  otherwise  possible.  It  is  needless  to  say  this  is  not  necessary  in 
the  Coast  Country  of  Texas,  where  settlement  has  existed  in  concrete 
form  for  sixty  or  seventy  years,  and  where  every  desirable  adjunct 
of  civilization  is  to  be  found.  Yet  colonies  have  their  advantages  even 
here,  as  they  bring  old  neighbors  or  people  with  common  ties  of  blood 
or  purpose  together  and  enable  them  to  act  in  harmony  in  things  that 
pertain  to  their  welfare. 

Mr.  Gibbs,  of  the  Land  Department  of  the  Southern  Pacific,  at 
San  Antonio,  who  will  always  be  glad  to  furnish  the  prospective  set- 
tler with  any  information  desired,  has  happily  summarized  the  utili- 
tarian advantages  of  colonies  as  follows: 

“1.  A colony  or  organization  can  select  one  person  to  correspond 
with  us  respecting  purchase  of  lands,  and  can  secure  tracts  of  lands 
adjoining  each  other,  or  come  to  Texas  in  person  and  make  proper  se- 
lections after  examination  of  the  country.  The  agent  can  afford  to 
make  a reasonable  concession  on  the  price  of  land  when  sold  in  large 
bodies. 

“2.  The  agent  of  the  colony  can  arrange  for  the  comforts  of  the 


7 2 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


colonists  en  route,  personally  attend  to  procuring  supplies,  look  after 
personal  effects  and  see  that  everybody  is  properly  ticketed  when 
changing  from  one  transportation  line  to  another.  When  a colony  com- 
prises forty  or  fifty,  arrangements  can  be  made  to  come  through  to 
their  destination  from  any  part  of  the  United  States  without  changing 


cars. 


“3.  Colonies 
can  buy,  through 
their  agent,  lumber 
and  supplies  in  the 
principal  markets 
in  the  State,  and 
have  them  shipped 
to  the  nearest  rail 


Cotton  Trains  at  Houston. 

road  station  at  car 
load  rates. 

‘ ‘ 4.  Colonies 
can  purchase  horses 
cattle  and  other 
stock  in  droves  at 
the  lowest  rates. 
They  can  aid  each 

Main  Street  from  Capitol  Hill,  Houston.  Other  materiallv  at 

the  start  by  combined  labor  in  building,  fencing,  exchanging  of  farm 
stock,  and  joint  labor  in  saving  a crop. 

“5.  They  can  form  school  communities,  and  receiveat  once  the 
benefits  of  the  public  school  fund;  employ  a resident  physician;  build 
a church,  and  secure  a pastor  of  such  religious  faith  as  suits  them. 

“6.  They  will  have  a society  of  their  own,  and  be  the  nucleus 
of  population  that  will  flock  to  them  to  enjoy  the  advantages  they 
possess.” 

And  in  fuller  explanation  of  the  reference  made  above  to  the 
school  facilities  to  be  enjoyed,  it  is  well  to  remember  that  no  State  in 
the  Union  and  no  country  in  the  world  has  so  magnificently  endowed 
her  public  free  schools  as  Texas.  The  fathers  of  the  State  dedicated 
fifty  million  acres  of  land  to  education  ; of  these  17,712  acres  were 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


73 


given  to  each  county,  and  are  controlled  by  the  counties;  the  remain- 
der is  controlled  by  the  State.  The  permanent  school  fund  now  con- 
sists of  interest-bearing  securities,  bonds  and  land  notes  amounting  to 
$17,000,000.  Beside  the  interest  on  this  amount,  one-third  of  the  gen- 
eral revenue  and  a poll  tax  of  $>i  are  appropriated  for  school  purposes. 
Of  the  original  land  set  apart,  there  now  remains  about  twenty-eight 
million  acres,  which  is  held  at  from  $2  to  $5  per  acre.  Before  many 
years  the  interest  on  the  purchase  money  of  school  lands  will  be  suffi- 
cient to  maintain  the  public  schools  without  taxation.  The  present 
apportionment  allows  about  eight  dollars  per  annum  for  each  child  of 
school  age  in  the  State. 

In  this  brief  review  of  the  advantages  of  the  Coast  Country — or 
rather  of  its  capabilities — necessarily  condensed  to  come  within  the 
limits  of  this  pamphlet,  the  writer  has  sought  to  be  honest  with  the 
prospective  settler,  with  the  region  described,  and  with  himself.  Mis- 
representation would  only  do  injury,  and  wilful  exaggeration  or  dis- 
tortion of  facts  would  neither  be  profitable  nor  judicious.  He  believes 
that  every  statement  made  can  be  amply  verified,  not  in  isolated 
cases,  but  in  many  instances.  In  fact  the  exceptional  cases  have  not 
been  sought  as  illustrations.  The  purpose  has  uniformly  been  to  get 
the  average  results.  The  accomplishments  of  nations  are  not  meas- 
ured by  the  achievements  of  individuals — of  geniuses  of  phenomenal 
sagacity,  or  skill,  or  discernment — but  by  the  progress  of  the  people 
as  a whole.  So  it  is  equally  true  that  we  should  not  gauge  the  possi- 
bilities of  a region  by  what  a few  have  found  attainable,  but  by  the 
combined  results  of  the  many  working  with  equal  diligence  and  intel- 
ligence. That  has  been  the  purpose  of  the  writer,  and  yet  he  has 
given  recognition  and  weight  to  the  fact  that  what  one  ma.y  accom- 
plish by  superior  methods  of  cultivation  is  within  the  grasp  of  all,  and 
that  the  pioneer,  experimenting  on  certain  lines  and  demonstrating 
the  abundant  success  and  profitableness  of  his  theories,  opens  to  all 
the  opportunity  for  like  achievement. 

As  the  facts  here  presented  have  been  in  course  of  preparation 
for  the  printer  the  snows  of  late  November  have  been  falling  all  over 
the  great  region  north  of  the  Ohio  and  westward  over  the  vast  level 
prairies  of  the  Dakotas  and  beyond.  The  brief  summer  has  ended. 
Even  the  birds  that  gave  it  cheer  have  fled  to  more  congenial  climes. 
The  shivering  cattle  huddle  behind  the  stacks  that  give  them  suste- 
nance or  within  the  confines  of  the  sheds  that  shelter  them  from  the 
biting  wind.  The  farmer,  with  muffled  ears  and  hands,  goes  stiffly 
about  his  duties  and  then  retreats  to  the  warmth  of  the  house  to  stamp 
the  encumbering  snow  from  his  feet  and  seek  comfort  by  the  fire  in 
enforced  idleness.  The  soil — it  matters  not  what  qualities  of  latent 


74 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS- 


fertility  it  may  possess — is  locked  in  the  embrace  of  the  frost  king, 
and  lies  chill  and  frozen  beneath  its  coverlet  of  snow.  In  the  fires 
that  for  six  months  must  be  so  persistently  fed,  in  the  heat  generating 
foods  that  load  the  table,  and  in  the  weight  of  woolens  that  clothe 
the  body  to  give  defiance  to  the  cold,  is  consumed  the  substance  of 
the  farmer’s  labors — of  springtime  sovfing  and  of  autumn  harvest. 
To  the  chill  discomfort  of  nature  is  added  the  insidious  foe  that  strikes 
at  every  weak  spot  in  the  armor  of  the  system  with  the  dagger  of 
disease — of  pneumonia  and  pleurisy  and  rheumatism  and  catarrh  and 
consumption  in  the  well-to-do,  who  go  from  the  glow  of  the  fireside 
into  the  biting  breath  of  the  snow-laden  air ; and  of  diphtheria,  scar- 
let fever  and  typhoid  that  slay  the  children  of  the  poor  huddled  in  illy 
ventilated  cottages  or  cabins  where  the  warmth  of  the  body  is  ex- 
pected to  enforce  and  supplement  the  insufficient  heat  of  the  smolder- 
ing fire.  It  is  the  period  of  enforced  idleness,  of  industrial  death, 
when  the  farmer’s  energy  finds  itself  fettered  and  when  the  inroads 
of  necessity  make  sad  havoc  with  the  meager  accumulations  of  capi- 
tal stored  up  during  brief  periods  of  garnering. 

And  while  this  is  true  of  the  vast  area  above  the  snow  line  of  the 
continent,  how  different  is  the  picture  when  we  turn  to  the  Coast 
Country  of  Texas.  1 see  it  now  with  the  roses  clambering  in  pink 
and  yellow  mists  over  the  embowered  cottages.  Contented  women 
are  sewing  upon  the  wide  balconies  in  the  sunshine  that  sifts  like  a 
golden  dew  through  the  fretwork  of  creeping  vines  that  spread  them- 
selves on  trellised  porticos.  The  cattle  graze  in  gentle  content  and 
fatness  upon  the  nutritious  grass  waving  knee  high  in  lush  pastures. 
The  robin  lifts  its  song  to  drown  the  mocking  bird  The  trees  are  in 
the  period  of  their  leafage  yet  and  the  yellow  disk  of  the  orange  glow's 
in  its  emerald  setting  of  green.  The  farmer  is  busy  in  his  fields  and 
1 hear  the  familiar  summons  that  guides  his  horses  as  they  follow  the 
furrow  where  he  is  planting,  perhaps,  the  third  crop  within  the  twelve 
month  Presently  the  oats  or  rye  or  barley  that  he  sows  shall  put 
forth  its  tender  blades,  and  before  the  Christmas  slaughter  of  the 
wattled  bird,  will  wave  in  beauty  over  the  field  it  hides  And  just  be- . 
yond,  the  gardener,  with  loving  care,  is  confiding  to  the  earth  the1 
vegetables,  tender  things  of  summer  growth  to  the  northward,  but 
here  the  products  of  the  so-called  winter  time. 

Men  go  about  their  duties  care  free,  for  full  granaries  and  plenty 
give  content.  The  days  have  a hazy  mellowness — warmth  enough  to 
bring  comfort  and  cool  enough  to  fill  the  blood  with  the  impulse  that 
we  call  energy.  At  night  one  draws  the  blanket  close  and 
sleep  comes  with  the  ozone  of  the  near-by  salt  gulf  to  renew  the 
strength  of  brain  and  sinew.  The  days  of  December,  January  and 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS 


75 


Three  Year  Old  Pear  Orchard  Near  Victoria. 


76 


THE  COAST  COUNTRY  OF  TEXAS. 


February  drift  by  with  perhaps  an  occasional  frost  to  put  a sauce  upon 
the  salad  of  such  living,  but  no  truant  month  slips  past  without  seeing 
some  crop  confided  to  the  ground  or  some  harvest  gathered  to  add  to 
the  abundant  store  that  fills  the  land  with  plenty  No  time  Comes 
when  the  farmer,  looking  upon  a frozen  landscape,  can  sigh  to  feel 
that,  with  the  willingness  and  purpose  to  work,  he  is  perforce  forbid- 
den to  plant  or  reap.  The  perplexities  that  touch  the  hair  with  silver 
threads  and  early  whiteness  where  the  struggle  is  sharp,  and  where 
the  spirit  of  affection  is  crucified  for  fear  the  loved  ones  shall  suffer 
and  be  in  need,  comes  not  here  to  break  the  spirit,  for  want  is  a thing 
unknown  and  poverty  is  a spectre  that  knocks  at  no  farm  door.  No 
wonder,  then,  that  men  live  long  and  women  grow  old  gracefully,  and 
children  show,  in  lusty  limb  and  ruddy  cheek  and  sparkling  eye,  the 
satisfaction  of  their  lives,  the  content  and  prosperous  abundance  that 
they  have  inherited — not  without  work,  mind  you,  but  as  the  affluent 
reward  of  industry 

And  though  we  were  reared  in  latitudes  where  winter  had  its 
fullest  sway,  and  though  close  to  our  hearts  lie  the  love  of  the  sports 
it  brought  about  the  glowing  hearths  of  comfort  in  homes  of  plenty 
and  of  joy,  yet  infinitely  more  restful  and  more  inspiring  is  the  picture 
of  that  land  that  throws  its  arm  about  the  waters  of  the  wide,  blue 
gulf  and  wooes  alike  the  tempering  breeze  of  summer  and  the  balmv, 
perfume-laden  airs  and  buds  that  make  a mockery  of  winter  in  this 
fair  coast  land. 


) 


!f 


'f 


pattment  Lind#  tlu»  control  of  Mr.  C. 

are;.jiising  gr.cgt  efftt/ts  to  further  the  settlemem  of  this  part  of  the 
statefao  I Texas  in  geiic-ral.  . ; j 

• ;~P  iiiruad  companies  are  very  important  fac  .s  in  developing  a 
count;  . and  the  department  above  referred  |tb  entitled  to  much 
credit  assisting-  so  materially  in  this  matter /an.!  these  companies 
have  retofore  been  and  are  now  amongst  the  foremast 'in  whatever 
enter; -rises  t.ha.t  will -ultimately  redound  to.  the  gene  advancement 
of  the  State  of  Texas. 

ssSKThese  lands  are  in  close  proximity  to  market,  and  of  all  varieties^; 
all  of  them  suitable  for  cultivation  and  some  of  them  timber  lands' 
Ip^S  The  railroad  companies  are  affording  every  facility  .of  comfortaL 
blejand  low. rates  of  passage  to  emigrants,  by  means  of  which  they, 
can  p ea  ch  these,  lands.-  id  . k 

1 hese  lands  are  ottered  at  prices  ranging  from  £3  to  $5  per  acre/ 
oiterfifth  cash  and  the  balance  in  -four  equal-  annual  payments  , at  six 
per 'cent.,  interest.  Accommodating  agents  in  the  persons  of  A B. 
Doucette,  Beaumont,  and  W C.  Moore,  at  Liberty,  who  also,  has  an 


/ 


office  in  the  Kiam  Building,  Houston,  are  always  ready  to  shovvrlands 


to  anyone  desiring  to  inspect  them  These  lands  are  very  cheap  and 


terms  liberal,  and  the  opportunity  to  secure  them  is  not  likely  to  re.-,: 


main  open  long,  For  further  particulars  apply  to 


C.  C.  GIBBS,  Land  Commissioner,  SAN  ANTONIO,  TEXAS. 


h 


24548 


